The Chariot Card
by Ren Kayashima
Summary: David Rossi tries to bond with his college age daughter while chasing America's most criminal minds with the BAU. Part 2 of Tarot Series
1. Chapter 1

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Summary: As the holidays are fast approaching the BAU is presented with some holiday cheer.

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Out: So as promised in the last chapter of The Death Card, I will be putting shout outs for everyone who reviewed in the last chapter. So thank you to **__**booksandmusic97, Randallsbaby, p95000, **__**and **__**dyallon**__**. I loved seeing your reviews and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I hope you find this one just as fun.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter One:

It had been almost six months since David Rossi found out he had a daughter. Much less a teenage one. He often found himself excited to come home to see her working on homework in the kitchen's breakfast nook.

He had just gotten back from a case in Colorado. It was three in the morning and he was more than ready to collapse into his soft bed and sleep for ten days.

He knew Rori was off for winter break, but he was surprised to find her in the kitchen baking cookies. She was in a simple pair of light blue pajama shorts and a white tank top. Her long black hair had been pulled up into a messy bun and her bangs were brushed to the side.

"Rori it's three in the morning. What are you doing up?" he asked.

Rori looked up, her green eyes shining with happiness and a mix of confusion. "No it's not. I'm not even tired."

"How long have you been baking?" Rossi asked looking around the kitchen.

"I finished my English Final at two, dropped Kenta off at his place so that he could get ready for his trip to Japan, and then I went to the store to get some ingredients. I came home and I started baking."

"Why?"

"I do it every year and I wasn't going to wait for you to show up to help me. So I thought I would start today and not tomorrow," Rori explained. "I bake large batches of cookies and then I send them to friends and some of the nearby children's hospitals."

"How many cookies have you made?" Rossi asked.

Rori pointed over to the breakfast nook and Rossi found himself in a rare state. He was in absolute shock. The entire four person table was covered in stacks Ziploc containers. All filled with cookies.

He looked at the island to find a big bowl of dough. He caught a whiff of peppermint. "Why don't you stop for the night?"

"But I need to separate the dough into three sections and dye one red and another green."

Rossi perked up a bit. "You're making your mothers peppermint twist cookies?"

"Yeah, mom and I did this when I was little. She would tell me that we were fortunate and therefore we needed to find a way to give back. So we made cookies."

"All right," her father said as he made his way over to the sink. "I'll do the green and then we'll put the dough in the fridge so it can harden overnight. We'll twist them tomorrow."

He washed his hands and dried them quickly. "How did you keep the kitchen clean?"

Rori sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you? You clean up as you go," she explained. "I've never cooked with two ovens before. It's nice, things get done faster. I can have multiple batches going at one time."

Rossi took a third of the light brown cookie dough from the large bowl and dumped it into a smaller lightly floured bowl. "Where's the green food dye?" he asked.

Rori handed him the little cone shaped bottle. "You only need-"

"Three drops. I've made these before Rori."

Rori smiled and separated the dough once more.

An hour later Rossi peeked into Rori's room. It looked like she had washed her face and then dropped herself onto the bed. She was curled up on her side facing away from the door. Her two dogs had taken up residence on the second half of the bed while Mudgie was lying down on a plush dog bed in front of Rori's nightstand. He would never be found on the bed. He was a guard dog and he took his job seriously.

Rossi walked over and pulled Rori's favorite blanket over her. He bent over stiffly and scratched Mudgie behind the ear before leaving the room. He left the door slightly ajar for the dogs.

The next morning Rori came down stairs to the smell of fresh brewed, expensive, coffee. She was pulling a brush through her long tangled hair when she stopped in the dining room to see her dad drinking coffee while he read the paper.

"Why aren't you drinking your coffee in the breakfast nook like you usually do?" she asked.

"Someone decided that the nook was the designated cookie zone," Rossi answered.

Rori took a moment to understand. "Right. Sorry about that."

"It's okay."

"What time is it?"

"Eleven," her father answered. "The team was given the day off, so I don't have to go in today. What do you want to do?"

"Cookies, Christmas Shopping, Christmas tree, you know the general holiday stuff the people do as a family."

"Do you know what you want to get people?" Rossi asked.

"It's all been preordered. I just have to go pick it up," Rori answered. "You won't get a case during the week of Christmas will you?"

"We shouldn't unless it's serious."

"Okay."

"Go grab some breakfast."

Rori walked into the kitchen and looked at the tubs of cookies. "Dad?" she asked

"What is it Rori?" he answered.

"Do you think that your team would want some cookies?" she asked carefully.

"Why?"

"I think I made too many," Rori answered. "I also have a half page of recipes left to do."

Rossi came into the kitchen. "There's more?"

Rori nodded. "The kitchens going to smell like flour and vanilla for a month."

"Do you even have enough flour?" he asked.

"Check the pantry."

"Do I want to?"

"Well, on the bright side we probably won't run out of flour anytime soon," Rori said. "This means, we can make homemade raviolis one night."

0o0o0o0

Rori quickly made her way into Garcia's office. She was in a knee length tan sweater dress over a pair of black tights and black, knee high, high heeled boots that gave the appearance of sliding down her legs. A small beret rested on top of her head to complete the look. She held a large box in both hands as she made her way to the lair.

She balanced the box on her right hip while she reached forward to open the door. Once inside she set the box down on the small table and pulled out a small wrapped square box and a decorated tin of cookies. She set them carefully next to the tech's keyboard and left the room with her big box.

She copied the same procedure with Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss's desks. She hopped up the stairs and walked towards Hotch's office.

She stopped in front of his closed door. She leaned back slightly to look through the window. He was looking down at some folders. She frowned and lifted her foot up. She tapped it against the door and looked at him through the window.

Hotch looked up and nodded. "Come in."

Rori once again found herself in the position of balancing her box while she opened Hotch's door. She slid in and smiled.

"You ruined my plan Agent Hotchner, but that's okay because I forgive you."

Hotch looked at the box as she balanced it on one hand. "What's in the box?"

"You haven't spoken with my dad have you?" she asked.

"No, he said hello and went to his office."

"I know, I came with him today," Rori said. She set the box down in an empty chair. "I went on a cookie baking rampage this weekend. I also had to get some shopping done."

She pulled out two wrapped packages. "I got presents for your team."

"You didn't have to do that Rori."

"Au contraire Agent Hotchner, you guys are my dad's family ergo mine as well. I got Jack something too if that's all right. Oh, and a tin of cookies."

She set the packages on the lead agent's desk and pulled out one of the two remaining tins of cookies. She set it next to the presents and picked up her box once more.

"Thank you Rori."

"Happy holidays Agent Hotchner," Rori said. "I have to go hide in my dad's office now before the rest of your team arrives. Happy profiling."

Hotch watched her leave and a minute later he pulled the tin of cookies over and opened it. Each different type of cookies was separated into Ziploc baggie to maintain freshness and to prevent flavor contamination. He smiled and closed the tin knowing his son would be more than willing to help him eat the small treats.

A half hour later Rori was listening to music, bobbing her head to the music as she sat sideways in her father's chair. Her legs dangled over the side and moved slightly to the beat coming from her headphone. She started at her computer screen as she typed quickly.

Her father sat at his desk working on a lecture he would give after the New Year. He looked out his window into the bullpen and found the rest of his team walking in together. Morgan and Prentiss were laughing about something while Reid walked with them hands stuffed in his pockets. He looked at his daughter.

"Rori, they're here," he said.

He waved slightly to get her attention. She looked over and pulled out her headphones. Rossi pointed to the window. Rori slid off the couch and crawled over and peeked through the blinds at the bottom of the window.

"What are you doing?" Rossi asked.

Just when he thought she was mostly normal she went and did things like this. She had to bake cookies till three in the morning and peek out windows as if she's expecting to see some sort of hideous monster waiting to kill her.

"Shush, I'm running covert operations," Rori said.

"They probably already know it was you who gave them the gifts."

Rori looked back at him. "Stop messing up my sunny holiday demeanor. In case you haven't noticed, it's freezing cold outside and this place is surrounded by death and sorrow. I'm looking at your teams reactions to the presents."

"These aren't from Garcia. She isn't her yet," Prentiss said looking around.

Her gift was neatly wrapped in gold paper and a handmade silver ribbon bow was tied around the box.

"Who wraps gifts like this anymore?" Morgan asked. His was in green paper and topped with a shiny red bow. "I've only seen this stuff done at department stores."

"Maybe our gifts were wrapped by a professional," Reid said.

Rossi's door opened and Rori came running out and towards the bathroom. She was holding her nose with both hands Rossi came out a second later.

"Rori!" he yelled.

"I'm fine," she yelled back as she pushed her way into the bathroom.

Reid looked up at the senior agent confused. "What's wrong with her?"

"She was watching you guys from the window and suddenly jumped up and ran out," Rossi said. "I don't know what's wrong with her."

Prentiss set her gift down and headed towards the bathroom. "I'll check on her."

She entered the bathroom to find Rori standing in the middle of the bathroom with her head tilted back. She held a paper towel to her nose.

"What happened?" Prentiss asked.

"The heater in dad's office was too hot. I get bloody noses when that happens." Rori explained

Prentiss looked at the counter to see a small stack of clean paper towels that Rori was pulling from. "I'll be right back."

"I'll be right here."

Prentiss left the bathroom and came back a minute later with an ice pack. She folded it and set it lightly on top of Rori's nose.

"It'll help cool the blood down and slow the bleeding," she said.

"Thank you,"

"Was it you that got the Christmas presents?"

"Yep."

"Thank you very much."

"You haven't opened it yet."

Prentiss pulled the ice pack off after five minutes. Rori pulled her napkin away and threw it in the trash. She grabbed another to make sure that no more blood was coming out of her nose. She washed her hands and cleaned up her face a little bit and followed the female agent back into the bullpen where Rossi was talking with Reid and Morgan.

"Are you okay?" Rossi asked.

"It was just a bloody nose. No big deal," Rori brushed it off. "Can you turn the heat down a bit though?"

"It was Rori who got us the gifts." Prentiss said.

"You can open them now if you want," Rori said. "I baked the cookies in the tins as well. Dad helped a bit."

"You did all of this for us?" Reid asked.

Garcia came hopping in holding her gift. A bright smiled animated her features even further. "Rori, you got me a present," she sang slightly.

Rori smiled. "Of course I did."

Garcia sat in Morgan's chair and slipped the Gold bow off her silver wrapping. She carefully undid the flaps and slid a white box out.

"I pegged you as more of a rip and see what you got kind of girl," Morgan smiled.

"And ruin Rori's wrapping paper that she spent so much time on making it look pretty. I don't think so."

"You wrapped these?" Morgan asked holding his up.

Rori nodded and looked at the ground. "I love all the holidays and I go all out. Mom had me wrap my own gifts as a child. Three years ago my mom and I took a small gift wrapping class."

Rossi leaned against Reid's desk watching Garcia inspect the white box. "She spent three hours yesterday wrapping all of her gifts," he said.

Garcia opened the box and pulled out a glass cube with an etching of a game avatar on the inside.

"My Avatar for Camelot," Garcia smiled. "Thank you Rori."

Prentiss grabbed her present. "Me next."

Prentiss found a small Silver Star pendant on a silver chain. On the back of the star were her initials.

Morgan opened his gift to find a new watch with his name engraved on the back. Reid's box held an old copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes._

"I hope you like them," Rori smiled. "I wasn't sure what to get everyone, but I decided these would probably be nice to give you."

Garcia looked up from her glass cube. "What did you get Hotch?" she asked.

"I can't tell you, he has a tendency to show up when I least expect it. If I start talking he'll show up and hear me."

"Hear what?" Hotch asked walking over.

"Told you."

Rossi looked at his daughter. "Who's the last tin of cookies for?" he asked.

"Chief Strauss. I thought she might want some cookies to brighten that evil aura lurks about her everywhere she goes," Rori said darkly.

"How about I give them to her," Rossi suggested.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: So we've come to the first chapter of The Chariot Card. So seeing as this is the sequel to The Death Card it will revolve around Rossi and Rori's lives throughout the newest adventure that hit's their lives. The next chapter will actually show some more Holiday celebrations.

I won't be introducing the main plot until about chapter four or five; the earlier chapters are merely to set things up.

Please, please review. I want to know what you think.

Ren


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

**_Shout Out: This chapter's shout outs go to Dyallon and P95000 for reviewing the first chapter and telling what they thought. Keep it up you guys._**

0o0o0o0

Chapter Two:

Rori stood by the door to her dad's office. She tapped her foot impatiently. "Dad, come on," she said. "Gram and Granddad are going to be at the airport in an hour."

"Rori, calm down, they can wait for five minutes," Rossi sighed as he packed up his things. "Don't worry about it."

"Can I drive?"

Rossi looked up at his daughter. "Why?"

"I have yet to drive with you in the car," Rori answered as she adjusted he beret.

Rossi debated lending the seventeen year old his keys. He pulled his keys out a minute later and tossed her the keys. Rori smiled and looked into the bullpen to see Morgan greet three women. He hugged the oldest and smiled.

"Hey mama," Morgan said.

"Hey dad, are those three Agent Morgan's family?"

Rossi walked up next to her. He looked at Morgan and nodded. "His mom and two sisters."

"Don't they live in Chicago?" she asked.

"Come on," Rossi stated. He gently pushed Rori towards the small set of stairs.

Morgan smiled. "Rori, Rossi, come meet my mom and sisters."

Rori smiled and walked over. "Hello," she greeted. He dad came up behind her and gave a nod."

"Mama, Desiree, Sarah, this is David Rossi and his daughter Rori Morre," Morgan introduced. "Rori, Rossi, meet my mama, and my sisters Desiree and Sarah."

Rori politely held out her hand to Fran Morgan. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Morgan."

"You too," Fran said taking the girls hand. "You're very polite."

"You raised Agent Morgan, and therefore have my respect," Rori explained.

"Why is that?" Fran asked.

"He's awesome, and has already gained my respect."

"It's nice to finally meet you Mrs. Morgan," Rossi said.

Rori shook hands with Morgan's sister and backed up a bit. "Are you three staying till the new year?"

"We'll be leaving the second." Sarah answered.

"You should consider coming to the New Year's Eve party Pen and I are throwing at my dad's place."

"Pen?" Desiree asked.

"Penelope Garcia," Morgan said.

"Oh that's the young woman you talk to," Fran smiled.

"Agent Morgan, I know Pen extended an invitation to you and your family," Rori said. "You don't have to come, but there's going to be some really great food. Agent Prentiss will be bringing a friend and her mother."

"My house is going to be a mess isn't it?" Rossi asked.

Rori sighed, "Stop being a party pooper. Gram thinks it's a brilliant idea,"

"My mother's nuts."

Rori turned back to the Morgan's. "Like I said, you don't have to come, but you're more than welcome to. The party starts at eight. If you do come, maybe Agent Morgan can bring Clooney."

Morgan smiled. "All right Rori."

"We'll be late if we don't leave now," Rossi said. "It was nice to meet you."

Rossi led Rori out of the BAU. She turned just as they reached the door and smiled. "Happy Holidays."

"You too," Fran smiled.

After the father and daughter had disappeared into the elevator, she playfully turned and swatted her son's shoulder. "You didn't tell me she was so well mannered."

"She's mostly locked in Rossi's office, so she doesn't piss Strauss off like she did last week after the Sanderson case."

"Really?" Sarah asked.

"Good for her," Fran said. "I don't like that woman. Now, let's get some food."

"Okay," Morgan smiled.

0o0o0o0

Rossi entered his home holding two large suitcases. He moved to the side to let his parent in. As the three of them stood in the entrance, Rori came running in.

"Cold, cold, cold, oh my god it's COLD!" she yelled.

"It gets like this every year Rori," her father pointed out.

"I never snowed in the Bay Area," Rori stated through her chattering teeth. "You know that area that has perfect weather and never gets below freezing temperatures."

"It's not that bad," Papa Rossi stated. He was of medium height and even at close to eighty his hair was only peppered slightly.

"Not that bad?" Rori asked. "It's like fifteen degrees out there."

"And yet, you still go running out in the snow," Rossi pointed out.

"I never said I don't like the snow," Rori said as she pulled her jacket off and hung it in the closet. "I hate the cold required for snow."

"Enough of this show me the tree," Mama Rossi smiled.

"This way Gram," Rori said as she shucked her boots off into a corner of the foyer. "Dad actually helped too."

"You say it like I never help you with anything," Rossi said. "Pick up your boots."

"I'll take them up later," Rori said as she walked into the family room.

"You're getting into the really bad habit of leaving your things around the house."

"She said she would take them up to her room later son. Leave her be," Papa Rossi said.

Rossi sighed. Rori had somehow managed to wrap his father around her long delicate finger. It wasn't hard; Papa Rossi was easily swayed in a woman's favor. As were most Rossi men.

"Oh Rori, it's beautiful," Mama Rossi crooned.

"Let's go see that tree," Papa Rossi mumbled.

The two men found the women circling the tree. Rori demanded that it not be pushed away completely into a corner, so the seven foot Douglas fir had a three foot clearing all the way around. It was richly decorated with colorful ornament from Rori's collection and then some simple gold and silver ornaments from his own collection that had been locked away in the attic.

Mama Rossi picked up a glass ornament. It was a tie died swirl. In Sharpie was a sentence in Japanese.

"What does it say?" the older woman asked the teenager.

"It's in Japanese."

"I think she got that much," Papa Rossi grunted.

"No really, that's what it says. Kenta gave it to me."

"Oh, how cute," Mama Rossi smiled. "I'm going to get dinner started.

0o0o0o0

Rori woke up on Christmas morning curled up next to one of her dogs. The other was almost on top of her feet. Zenzen's orange fur bristled slightly as she sensed movement. The canine lifted her head and looked at her owner.

Rori scratched the dog's head. "Morning Zen," she leaned forward and shook the white Akita. "Come on Chou, let's get you guys out for a walk."

Ten minutes later Rori stood in the backyard and watched as three dogs walk through the foot and a half of snow. As they walked the snow was pushed to the sides making maze like pathways and turns.

"Merry Christmas," her father spoke as he walked over.

"Merry Christmas dad," Rori smiled.

"How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, I had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head."

Rossi laughed slightly as he watched the dogs start to make their way back to their owners.

"Ready to go back inside?" Rossi asked.

Rori nodded. She started to follow her dad but stopped. She gathered up some snow and balled it up. She threw it lightly at her father's back. It hit him lightly in the middle and cascaded back to the ground.

Rossi whipped around and looked at his daughter as she began to laugh lightly. She ran back into the house. The dogs followed her inside. She stopped in the laundry room and stomped the snow off her boots on the door matt making the snow fall off. She slipped of her black duffel coat and hung it on a coat rack.

Rossi came in and copied his daughter's action. "Was that really necessary?"

"It's frozen water," Rori said. "Get over it."

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Biscuits and Gravy."

"Okay, mom and dad are going to be down in a half hour."

Rori nodded as she made her way into the kitchen. She planted herself in the breakfast nook.

Two hours later the Rossi family was seated in the family room. Mama Rossi handed a wrapped gift to her son and another to her granddaughter. "They're from both of us of course."

Rossi opened the package to find a cardboard box. He opened it and pulled out an old weathered book. He pulled it out and examined it closely. "Where did you find this?" he asked.

"I had your cousin in Venice track it down," Mama Rossi said.

Rori looked at her dad. "What is it?"

"It's a book written by my great grandfather Vincenzo Rossi," he answered.

He opened it and found the glue on the spine almost scarce. Some of the yellow pages were torn and had mold spots. "It wasn't a very popular book. An old Italian mystery that takes place in Tuscany."

"Of can I read it?"

"It's in Italian."

"I know Spanish and French. I'll figure it out," Rori said. "Can I see it?"

Rossi handed it carefully to his daughter. She inspected the pages and the leather binding. "Can I take this to Giles?"

"Who is Giles?" Papa Rossi asked.

"He's my godfather. He repairs and restores old books like this. He actually restores the Morre family Bible every ten years or so. Rather his family has for quite some time," Rori explained. "He would be able to get the mold out of the pages and fix some of the tears. Gluing the spine back together wouldn't be too difficult either."

"He's coming to dinner tonight, so you can give it to him then," Rossi said.

"Oh cool."

"Rori, open your present," Mama Rossi insisted gesturing to the small wrapped box in her lap.

Rori set the old book on a side table and looked at the small box in green paper. She shook it carefully before taking the wrapping off gently. She held a small jewelers box. She looked at it in surprise.

She opened the box to find a gold chain necklace with a crest pendant. The background was red and featured a gold horse in mid gallop.

"It's the Rossi family crest," Papa Rossi explained. "We all have one like it. Even your father."

Rori lifted the necklace out of the box to examine it. On the back she found 'RAMR' engraved.

"We know you go by your mother's last name, but your still a Rossi so we had the 'R' put at the end," Mama Rossi said.

"Thank you," Rori smiled as she put the necklace on. "It's perfect and it leads up to something I have for dad."

Rori crawled over to the tree ad grabbed a red envelope off a package. "It's not really a gift, but it's something for you dad," Rori explained. "Giles helped me get it."

She crawled back over and handed the envelope to her father.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Open it."

Rossi opened the envelope and pulled out what looked like folded official documents. He unfolded the papers and his eyes widened at the title. "You want to change your name?" he asked looking at the seventeen year old.

"Combine it really," Rori said. "I want to be Rori Anne Morre-Rossi."

"You don't have to do that," Rossi said.

"It's not like I'm giving up my mom's last name, I'm simply adding to it," Rori said. "I'm not eighteen which mean I need my legal guardian's permission to change or alter my last name. Who better than my dad?"

David Rossi was at a loss for words. He had never expected Rori to change her name. She was overly possessive of her mother's last name and wore it proudly. He never thought combining the two names would be an option for her.

"I don't know what to say," he told her.

"Say you'll sign the papers," Papa Rossi answered.

Mama Rossi smiled and hopped up from her seat. She wrapped her arms around the teen in a tight hug. Rori laughed and hugged back.

Rori looked at her dad. "Well?"

Rossi stood up silently and walked towards his office leaving the rest of the family to wonder. After five minutes of listening to the wall clock tic, Rori stood up nervously. She walked to her father's office and stood at the door.

"Dad, did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"No Rori," he smiled. "It's perfect." He reached over and picked up a pen and flipped through the pages.

Rori smiled. "Thank you," she said.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Now don't tell me this chapter didn't bring some warm fuzziness at the end. Anyway the next chapter will be the New Year's party. I was actually planning on putting it in this one, but then the gift exchange came to mind and I had to write it. So the next chapter will be all about the New Year's Eve party.

I plan on having the first couple of chapter's be light in nature and then we're going to plummet into the case that the BAU has to work on. And of course, for your reading pleasure, Rossi's daughter will play a part in the whole mess. I can't wait to actually start working on it all.

Now it's your guy's turn. Submit a review letting me know what you think about the chapter. Was it cute, warm, or poorly written? Do you wish that there was more? Let me know and I'll take it all into consideration.

If you want to know more, check out the updates on my profile. I post them with the date to let you know when I'm actually working on something.

This will sound selfish, but as a writer of fanfiction, I write mostly for myself first and foremost. However, that does not mean that I don't like seeing reviews for my chapters. I absolutely love reviews. They let me (the writer) know what you (the reader) like to see in the story. So, when I see that over fifty people have read my latest chapter, and no one has reviewed, I can't help but feel like I've disappointed you in some way. I won't know this until you tell me. So don't be shy about your opinions. I take all reviews seriously and I hope that you'll all let me know if I've crossed some sort of unseen line with the plot.


	3. Chapter 3

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator. Also I do not own Nintendo, x-box, or PlayStation, Mario Bros, or any Super Smash Bros: Brawl.

_**Shout Out: So there are a lot of shout outs. It appears a lot of you all enjoyed this last chapter. A special thank you to **__**Dyallon**__** who left her honest opinion about the chapter. Thank you to **__**booksandmusic97**__**, **__**mummacass**__**, **__**p95000**__**, and **__**hxchick**__**. Thank you for your kind reviews.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Three:

Rossi opened his front door to find Rori's long -time friend and current boyfriend standing on the step. The Kayashima twins were only two of the few friends that Rori had, but they happened to have known her the longest.

Rossi sighed. "Aren't you a little early?" her asked.

A young woman with strawberry blond hair and pale blue eyes popped up from behind the twins. "Of course not Mr. Rossi. The boys are here to practice with Rori for a bit. They haven't been able to since they left for Japan," she spoke.

"Hello Alice. How are you?" Rossi nodded.

"I'm quite well. The family trip to Tahoe went without a hitch."

Rossi moved out of the way to let the three young adults in. "Rori's up in her bedroom."

Alice was in a pair of black jeans and ankle length high heeled boots. She took off her knee length coat to show a purple button up t-shirt under a black vest.

"How was your holiday Mr. Rossi?" Kaoru, the oldest of the twins asked as he opened the coat closet and pulled a couple hangers.

He took Alice's coat and hung it up. He was in a pair of grey slacks and a white button up shirt that was rolled up to the elbows. He wore a black fedora over his long black hair that was pulled into a ponytail.

"It was good, what about yours?"

"Well we're Buddhists, so we don't celebrate Christmas in the traditional Christian sense. We spent a week in a temple and then exchanged gifts at our grandparents," Kaoru explained.

Kenta the youngest twin and Rori's boyfriend quietly took off his coat to show a grey soft wool sweater and grey slacks. He hung up his coat in the closet.

"Did you get anything good?"

"We got new snowboards," Kenta answered. "Has Rori opened her gifts?"

Rossi nodded. "She's still trying to figure out the Italian puzzle box your grandmother gave her."

Giles came down the hall and entered the foyer tiredly. "Well Dave, I've managed to run out of supplies," he said raking his hands through his graying hair. "I have to let the glue dry on the spine, so I'll be back in a couple hours."

"I told you that you could take the book to your shop," Dave told him. He watched the teens head for the stairs.

"It's better if I don't take the book out in this weather," Giles smiled as he opened the front door. "Not to mention you mother seems to be very critical of my restoration process."

"I can tell her to leave you alone."

"It's not a bother. I know how important it is to your family history. Rori's just itching to get her hands on it so that she can read it. I think she doesn't realize how hard it is to translate a piece when you can't actually read, write, or speak the language."

"But she's willing to take on such challenges," Dave said.

Both men heard a squeal come from upstairs. Rossi shook his head and Giles headed out the door with a final wave. Rossi walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. "Rori, keep your door opened," he shouted.

He headed back to his office determined to write another chapter for his book before Garcia invaded his home to decorate. He heard the quick pounding of the twins as they came down the stairs followed by Rori and Alice's slow lighter footfalls.

It wasn't long before he heard the sounds of Bach as it resonated through the house. It was a sound David Rossi easily welcomed. It helped him with writing. It made his thoughts clearer, so much that he had stopped using the Dictionary/Thesaurus on his desk.

There was a knock on his door and Dave looked up to find his father standing like the proud Italian that he was.

"Yeah dad?" he asked.

"How did you end up with such a great daughter?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"She's polite, smart, and beautiful. All of the things a dad could wish for, but how did _you _the wild child of our family end up with a daughter like her. Your brother and sister haven't been so lucky," Papa Rossi said sitting down.

"I wish I was the one responsible for it," Dave said. "Her mother did all of the work."

"Christine was probably one of your most amicable divorces," Papa Rossi stated. "But she hid the one thing I don't think you can live without now."

"I was angry, hell I still am sometimes, but Rori explained it to me," Dave said. He closed his laptop satisfied with the progress he had made. "I wouldn't be much help raising her as a child. I was traveling all over the country profiling criminals."

"Christine was a really busy lawyer and somehow she managed to raise your daughter," Papa Rossi said. "I'm not saying you couldn't do it, but I'm wondering how she did it."

"They went on trips around the world. That's when they would bond. Rori talks about the trips sometimes," Dave said. "She tried not to though."

"Why?"

"She knows that I was angry about Christine hiding Rori from me," Dave said. "I always tell her that she doesn't have to walk on eggshells when it comes to her mom."

"She's only been living with you for about six months. You're traveling all over the US to work cases and she's been going to college," Papa Rossi said. "Think about it, your relationship with Rori is going to take time. She hasn't said she hates you. Your mother tells me that on a weekly basis. But, I love your mom. Rori loves her dad; she just doesn't know how to show it quite yet."

Papa Rossi smiled and stood up. "I'm going to grab a nap before all the excitement tonight."

"You do that dad."

Dave stood up after his father had gone upstairs and made his way to the family room. He found Rori and Alice dancing around while Kaoru pounded an upbeat tune on the piano with Kenta accompanying on the violin. He sat down on one of the small couches and smiled as he watched his daughters smiling face.

Rori stopped dancing and plopped down next to her father. "Hey," she smiled.

"Looks like you were having a bit of fun," he spoke.

"Just a bit," Rori laughed.

"When is Garcia going to arrive?"

Rori looked up at the ceiling, "Well the party is at eight, she said she was going to arrive at six to begin setting up."

"Why does she have to come two hours before?"

"She has to set up the snack and the decorations. I'm in charge of arranging the entertainment. The Living room is going to be the entertainment room, while the family room is going to be reserved for socializing."

"What do you mean by entertainment?"

"Video games and board games. The twins brought their x-box and PS3. I have the Wii, so we're going to hook them up. I'm going to set up a table for the board games that Alice brought. I was going to move the furniture a bit so that we could fit your poker table from the library out in the living room."

"You're moving the furniture?"

"Only so that we have room for the dancing games and all of the games that involve heavy movement."

"All of that's going to fit in the living room?"

"Well I could keep the Poker table in the library."

"Yes, then I can play my game in peace. And the furniture in the living room stays in the living room," Dave told her.

"I won't, we're just moving it out a bit to have room. People still need a place to sit right? We just need the room to move around."

"Oh dear god," Dave sighed

Rori hugged her dad. "Don't worry about it, Kenta and Kaoru said they would come by tomorrow to help put the house in its original order."

Rossi hugged her back. "They better. I assume that Alice is spending the night?"

Rori smiled. "Only if it's okay with you,"

"Just make sure the two of you don't break anything this time."

Rori stood up and grabbed Alice's arm and danced out of the room. "No promises," she sang as the twin got up to follow her.

Rossi looked around and stood up.

"Where are the dogs?" he asked.

He caught a whiff of his mother's special spaghetti dinner and made his way to the kitchen. He found all three dogs salivating at the edge of the kitchen while Mama Rossi made her homemade tomato sauce.

"Spaghetti for dinner," he asked.

"Of course, those teenagers are going to need a really nice meal before the adventures tonight," Mama Rossi stated.

"It smells great mama."

0o0o0o0

Rossi looked around at the several people in his house with smiles on their faces. The living room was filled with the younger generation. Rori had convinced Hotch to bring Jack who was now playing the Wii waving his arms around wildly.

Garcia was wondering around all over the house in a hot pink paisley dress. She threw her normal flirtatious jabs at Morgan who had been given the job of video game commentator. Reid and Prentiss were playing a game of Apples to Apples with Kenta, Alice, and Rori. Dave's mother and father were having an animated conversation in Italian with Ambassador Prentiss.

Hotch came up behind him and had a small smile on his face as he watched his son play the video game. "Looks like Rori and Garcia know how to put together a great party."

"My house is in shambles," Dave spoke.

Hotch looked around and patted the senior agent on the back. "Knowing Rori, she'll have the place back to normal by noon tomorrow."

Dave grumbled as the two headed to the library.

Rori looked around the living room. "Excuse me," she stood up and walked over to Jack.

"Hey little buddy are you kicking Kaoru's butt?"

Jack smiled and nodded. He held the Wii remote out to her. "Do you want to play?"

"I'd love to, how about you and I are a team for Mario Party 8 and then someone can pair off and they'll be our opponents."

Jack nodded.

"I want to play," Morgan said standing up. "I love Mario,"

"Okay pick a partner."

"Reid get over here," Morgan called.

Reid looked up. "I don't play video games," he said.

"Come on Dr. Reid, they're easy games," Rori smiled. "It's that or Brawl."

"What's Brawl?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, a melee fighting game with a combination of Nintendo characters to choose from," Morgan explained.

"Okay," Reid said. "Find someone else."

Rori picked up Jack and formed her face into a small pout. "Dr. Reid please play Mario Party with us," Rori said.

"Please Dr. Reid," Jack asked.

"Come on Reid you can't say no to Jack and Rori," Prentiss smiled.

"Yeah Reid, you can't say no to the two of us," Rori smirked.

Reid sighed. "Fine."

A half hour later and the room was full of laughter as Jack and Reid were moving their arms around wildly while Morgan and Rori barely moved their wrist to make the required movement.

"Why aren't you two moving as much as me?" Reid asked.

"You aren't used to a Wii remote. Don't worry, you're getting the job done," Rori explained. "Get it Jack!"

The screen changed to a results page and a green Yoshi was jumping up and down as confetti poured down on it. Jack mimicked the movement.

"Great job Jack. You too Dr. Reid," Rori smiled.

"I'm in last place," Reid said.

"It's a process; you'll get the hang of it."

Garcia came bouncing in. "You guys, one minute to go."

Rori smiled, "I'm going to go let dad and the rest of the guys know."

She left the room and Kenta snuck up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "You realize I haven't had you to myself at all for two weeks."

"Kenta I have to tell my dad," Rori laughed.

"Okay, let's go," he smiled and took her hand.

Rori opened the library door and smiled. "Dad, new year in thirty seconds."

Rossi looked up from the table. "All right."

"Later Mr. Rossi," Kenta said pulling Rori towards the kitchen he guided her to the deck.

"Kenta what are you doing?" Rori asked.

The two heard everyone in the house start the countdown.

Rori looked up at the sky. "Three, two, one," she breathed. "Happy New Year."

Kenta squeezed her hand and pulled her into a soft kiss. "Happy New Year Rori."

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Happy New Year everyone. I hope it's a blast for all of you. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I to really enjoyed posting it before the twelve o'clock mark in my time zone. So enjoy it and stay tuned for the next chapter.

Leave a review telling me how you feel about the latest installment. You know I love to hear from you guys.

Ren


	4. Chapter 4

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Summary: Rossi finds something that provided insight into Rori before he met her and the relationship she had with her mother.

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: and the reviews keep coming. I really appreciate all of the reviews I receive. So a special thank you to **__**booksandmusic97**__**, **__**dyallon**__**, **__**p95000**__**, and **__**hxchick**__**. I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. I really like seeing everyone's reviews. For everyone out there, I give you a shout out and I try to reply to the review as well. Enjoy.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Four:

Dave entered his home to find it eerily quiet. He saw Rori's knee length duffel coat hanging off the end of the railing for the stairs. On the ground next to the stairs was a pair of black boots. He sighed and set down his briefcase. He took off his jacket and hung it up before grabbing Rori's to hang up. He closed the closet door and headed into the family room.

Before Rori had moved in, Dave had considered selling his house and moving to a smaller cabin for Mudgie and him. Now as he stared at his daughter as she slept on the couch, he couldn't help but think that the house had become smaller, more comfortable, and definitely more lived in.

Rori's lower half was covered by her favorite blanket while a large psychology textbook rested on top of her propped up legs. She leaned into the dark brown cushion backs of the couch. Her bangs had fallen in front of her eyes without a conscious hand to push them to the side. After a day of snow and wind her long black hair had developed an uneven wave.

Dave pulled the textbook from her lap and closed it before setting it down on the coffee table. His coffee table was never bare, always covered with textbooks, paper, and notebooks. He picked up a small purple leather journal and looked at it. In the bottom right corner, her full name had been pressed in gold. He opened it and found a folded up piece of white printer paper on top of the crisp white journal pages.

He unfolded the note and was surprised to find his ex's clean cursive scrawled on the page. He sat down in his favorite recliner and turned on the table lamp. He looked up from the note as Rori buried her face into the cushion back to prevent the light from reaching her.

Dave looked around for the dogs and found them asleep on their beds in the corner of the room. Mudgie let out a stuttering breath before turning over onto his back and kicked his legs out as he chased a dream bird through the tall fields of the land of Mudgie.

Dave turned his attention back to the note he held in his hand and began reading.

_Rori,_

_You'd think as your mother, I'd have some idea what to get you for your birthday. Unfortunately, I'm at a loss. You're growing up so fast, and your interests seem to change every day. I was talking to Giles a month ago when I saw you sitting on the couch writing in one of the many notebooks you covet so dearly. That's when I asked him to make this for you._

_When I was your age, I drew the important events of my life. Graduation, my eighteenth birthday, law school, my wedding, a diary of sketches. However, you don't like to draw, so a sketchbook is out of the question. Instead, I'm giving this to you. A book to document the moments that really matter to you. Maybe one day you'll share your journal with your daughter, like I shared my sketches with you._

_I love you Rori. Forever and Always._

_Mom_

Dave ran his finger over Christine's cursive and set the note down on the table. He opened the notebook once more and looked at the first page. _A letter to her mom?_ he thought.

The simple print was relatively neat except for the small circles where the black ink had run from a few tear drops falling on top. Dave looked at the date at the top. _August 8, 2008,_ less than two weeks after Christine's death.

_Dear Mom,_

_I'm in D.C now. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. Happy? Happy that I get to see Aunt Kate, Giles, and the Kayashimas? Happy that I can see grandma and grandpa is if so desire? Happy that you're in a 'better' place as the priest told me? Why should I be happy? You're dead._

_People keep telling me to 'celebrate your life', and not 'mourn your death', and I just want to yell and scream, and kick for my mom. But you can't come. You're buried six feet under and the time I need you the most… you aren't here._

_You aren't here to hug me and tell me that everything will be all right. You aren't here to help me through this. I know that you would tell me to trust Kate with all of this, but she doesn't know how to be a parent. Now I have to call Kimi for someone to talk to. I can't come into your room and talk like we used to. _

_I'm scared mom. How can I do all of this on my own?_

Dave dropped his hand so that the book rested in his lap. Was this entry really written by his daughter? This passage was written by someone who made a point to smile and laugh her way through her day. He lifted the journal back up and looked for an entry that indicated a change. He stopped flipping through the book when he found an entry exactly two years after the first entry.

_Hey Mom,_

_I met my dad today. David Rossi, right? You know, when you refused to tell me about him, I assumed the worst. Was my dad a drug addict? Was alcohol his vice of choice? Did he beat you? I was wrong though._

_My dad is David Rossi, one of the fathers of Criminal Profiling. I now understand why you were so against me joining the FBI, and why you freaked out when I bought his books. You didn't want him to know about me, and you didn't want me to find out he was my father. It makes perfect sense now._

_I wish it was you that had told me who my dad was instead of Kate. Maybe then, you could have explained things better. He's not a bad guy. I have yet to see his parenting skills, but I'm sure he can't be that bad. From the looks of it, his team sees him as the wise elder, capable of extending advice. Perhaps he's what I need._

_I'm sitting on Kenta's bed as I write this. It's been a couple months hasn't it? I mean since I've visited your grave. I'll bring some carnations for you this weekend. It feels odd sometimes, writing to you, when I know I'll never be able to send you a letter. Somehow, it's better than talking to your tombstone._

_Let's both give dad a chance. Okay?_

_Forever and Always._

_Rori_

Dave looked up as Rori sat up her back to him. She stretched her arms out and rolled her wrists. Her back gave off a series of pops and cracks to relieve the pressure. Her body relaxed for a moment and she started looking around.

"I'm sorry Rori," Dave spoke as he closed the leather notebook and dropped it on his lap.

Rori jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned to face him and immediately zeroed in on the journal. She looked away in shame. "Have you read it?" she whispered.

"Only the first entry and the one about meeting me," Dave answered as he set the book down on the coffee table. "And the letter from your mom."

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Rori asked looking at the ground.

"Wait here," Dave said pushing himself out of the chair.

He left the room and Rori pulled her blanket around her neck and hugged her knees. He mother drew to relieve stress. Rori wrote in her journal and composed music.

Dave came back into the room and dropped a stack of sealed envelopes on the table. He walked over to the cobblestone fireplace and grabbed a gold platted letter opener off of the dark wood mantle. He came back and sat down on the couch next to Rori. He picked up a letter and opened it. He pulled the yellow stationary out and held them out to Rori.

"What is it?" Rori asked.

"Just read it Rori," he said.

Rori took the pages and unfolded them. "Who's Nonna?" she asked.

"It means grandmother. She died when I was in the Marines."

Rori quietly read the pages. Her green eyes scanning the stationary quickly. She dropped her hands when she finished and looked at her father. "So it's normal to write to dead family members?" she asked

"There's nothing wrong with it," Dave nodded taking the letter from her. "We all have different ways of coping. I was close to my nonna. After my parent came over from Italy and had me and my siblings, she moved in with us."

Rori smiled. "Was she a cool nonna?" she asked leaned back into the couch.

"One of the best. If someone messed with her grandbabies, she's give them _the eye_," Dave chuckled.

"What's _the eye_?" Rori asked eyeing her father in suspicion.

"It's said to be an Italian curse," Dave explained. "People spoke in hushed tones when _the eye _is mentioned. Bad things happen to you if you're given _the eye_."

Rori began giggling and clutched her side as it progressed into a full blown fit of laughter. Dave smiled as he watched her face light up. Tears of laughter slid down her face as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. She sat up and smiled at her dad as she wiped her eyes.

"Don't ever let nonna hear you laugh at her mystic power," Dave said.

"Oh, I need a good laugh," Rori sighed.

"You shine when you write," Dave told her as he leaned back into the couch. "Your mother was the same way when she would sketch."

"What?" Rori asked turning on her side to look at her dad.

"When you're doing your homework, writing on the computer," Dave said. "Especially when you're sitting at the piano writing lyrics and composing music. You radiate warmth and glow."

"No, I don't," Rori blushed. "I disappear when I write."

Dave laughed. "You should see yourself work sometime. You're eyes hold this-"he tried to find the right word. "Excitement."

"It's just work," Rori said as she backed into the corner of the couch to hug her knees again.

"Work you enjoy," he told her. "What were you studying when you fell asleep?"

"Stuff for my developmental psych class," Rori smiled. "Did you know that at eight months, a baby develops what's known as object performance? Before that, they fully believe that out of site is indeed, out of mind."

Dave smiled as he watched his daughter talk about the stages of childhood development while moving her hands around excitedly. He couldn't help but look at her and see her mom, and a little bit of the same excitement he held in psychology.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Well I really like writing this chapter. It wasn't as long as the others, but I felt this was a great place to end the chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. I've a couple more chapters to go until I get to the main plot. Because of course I have to get the BAU involved in some way. Also there is still more father/daughter bonding to go for Rori and Dave.

So now I need something from you, the reader. Drop me a review letting me know what you think. I really appreciate all reviews so don't be shy. I especially enjoy ones that tell me where to improve as a writer. This chapter took me four times to get right.

So I hope you enjoyed it.

Ren


	5. Chapter 5

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: So this chapter's shout outs go to **__**booksandmusic97**__**, **__**dyallon**__**, and **__**p95000**__**. Thank you for the great review. Especially **__**dyallon**__**, I lit up the entire room after seeing your review. **_

_**I hope you enjoy this chapter. **_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Five:

Rossi sat in his office methodically make his way through profile requests, lecture notes, and case reports. Why was paperwork so important when it came to putting these criminals behind bars? Was the FBI really that concerned with covering their asses?

He shook his head in disbelief. Of course it was important. The slightest discrepancy could let a mass murderer run free. A deep frown made its way onto his face when he thought about the likes of Manson being set free. He closed a file and set it aside. He picked up a request and let out a tired sigh.

"Knock, knock," Rori chimed from the door.

Rossi shook his head and smiled in relief. He set down his pen and greeted her.

Rori entered the office and quietly shut the door. "Monotonous work again?" she asked.

"If only you knew," he grumbled. "You know we don't get called in for everything. Right?"

Rori pulled her boots off so that she could tuck her feet under her in the chair. She made herself comfortable and looked at him. "I wouldn't have a dad if you went to every city that requested your help. That's assuming too much of you and your team."

"How was class?" he asked. It was questions like this that made David Rossi feel like a normal father. He watched Rori as she unloaded her belongings.

"We were asked to write at least two thousand words on a personal event of our choice," Rori answered. "Next week our teacher will pick the best one and publish it in the school paper."

"What are you going to write about?" Rossi asked.

"Meeting you and your team, and how I view the world differently because of it," Rori answered simply. She messed with a watch on her wrist and smiled.

"Why?" Rossi asked. Why was she so focused on him and his team?

"Why not?" Rori ponder placing a finger on her bottom lip. "Are you working late Friday?" she asked quickly. She looked out the window and bit the inside of her lip.

"It depends on if a case come in. I shouldn't be," he answered. His daughter never asked questions like this out of the blue. "What's on Friday?"

"A special exhibit at an art gallery," Rori replied. 'It's featuring pieces by artists between the ages of thirteen and twenty-five. Alice is showing some art work there."

"And you want to go?"

When she wasn't working on school work or at her job in New York, she spent her time going to the symphony and the occasional concert. Dave never once pegged her for an art enthusiast. She only looked at her mother's sketch books about once a month and even then, she never stared at them for very long. The sketch books sat on a shelf in her bookshelf. Rori was afraid of ruining her mothers work.

Rori opened her bag and pulled out a large envelope. She held it out to her father. He took it and opened it up and peeked inside. "Are these passes for the team?" he asked.

Rori stood up and pulled her boots back on. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm going to hang out in Penelope's office. The event is formal, but not an entire black-tie affair. If you guys could come, Alice would be happy. Maybe we could get a little culture into Agent Morgan," she laughed slightly as she drummed her fingers against the door jam.

Dave shook his head but smiled. He could see Morgan dressed up in a suit. His problem was trying to picture Reid in anything other than his normal geek chic garb and a lab coat.

0o0o0o0

Rori sat in the living room and played a soft tune on the piano. Thursday night and he dad had gotten a case. _Too bad, I was really hoping they'd be there, _she thought. She sped up the tempo and made grader movements to reach the lower octave keys.

After five minutes, she pounded down on several keys at once in disappointment. "Sometimes I hate your job," she muttered. She stood up as the dogs walked in curiously.

Rori prided herself on never losing her cool while she played the piano. Mad at herself, she gathered up the music sheets she was working and stacked them neatly. It was late and she needed to get some rest. She looked at the black music notes and smiled, feeling accomplished. She slipped them into a black folder and dropped it on top of the piano.

She reached down and scratched Mudgie on the head as she made her way out of the room. "Time for bed. Hopefully dad will be home tomorrow. Pen will be there, she promised."

All three dogs followed Rori slowly up the stairs. She let the walk into her room before shutting the door.

0o0o0o0

Garcia stood at the entrance of the BAU tapping her foot impatiently. She was dressed in a knee length burgundy dress and black high heeled pumps. She had on a dark red lipstick and smoky eye shadow. Her red hair had been pulled into two pigtails and curled into small ringlets.

The BAU team came out of an elevator tired and ready to go home, but Garcia would not let them off so easily. She let out an aggravated sigh.

"It's about time," she huffed.

Morgan smiled and walked over. "What's going on hot stuff?" he asked, his playboy smirk making its way onto his lips.

Garcia held up a hand in a hushing manner. "Not now, your suit is on your desk. Go get changed."

Morgan snorted. "Why?"

"The gallery exhibit is tonight. We're going, no exceptions," Garcia stated. She looked at her flirtatious companion and raised an eyebrow daring him to challenge her authority on the matter.

Hotch smiled and shook his head. "Have fun you guys," he said as he headed to his office.

Garcia turned. "Oh no boss man, your sister-in-law is waiting at the gallery with young Jack. Your suit is hanging in your office. Rossi you too, you all have a half hour. Chop chop." She clapped her hands.

Prentiss walked over to her desk and found a black mid length dress with a low V-neck. She picked it up and ran her fingers over the fabric. "Where did you find this?" she asked.

"Anderson is a miracle worker. I picked it out, and he picked it up," Garcia answered. She looked at Reid and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry sugar, I couldn't find a suit for you."

Reid looked at his outfit and shrugged. He was in black slacks, a navy blue button up shirt, and a black silk vest. "This works," he said.

"Seaver, your dress is in my office. It's like Emily's I wasn't sure what to get you," Garcia said. "Now off you go my pets," she stated as she made a shooing gesture with her hands.

The group broke apart, nobody willing to argue with Garcia. She was a woman in charge and she wasn't to be messed with. Rossi turned to speak with her. "Do you know something that I don't?"

Garcia grinned in mock innocence. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

0o0o0o0

As the BAU entered the gallery foyer, they were greeted by a couple of familiar faces.

"JJ?" Prentiss asked walking over to the former FBI media liaison.

JJ stood in a blue knee length dress. Her hair was pulled back away from her face. Her bangs framed her face perfectly. Will stood next to her in a black suit, slight stubble on his chin. Both smiled and greeted the BAU team.

"What are you doing here?" Reid asked surprised.

"I was talking to Garcia earlier. She mentioned the gallery exhibit and how Rossi's daughter was going to be here. We came, because we weren't able to come to the New Year's Party on account of the fact that we were in New Orleans," JJ explained.

"Glad you could come," Hotch smiled. "Shall we go in?"

The group entered the main exhibition hall to find many display cases filled with sculptures scattered about the room. The walls were covered in paintings, sketches, and photographs. To separate each artists work the walls had been painted in black and white horizontal stripes.

"Where's Rori?" Rossi asked scanning the room. He tried to look for his daughter's bouncing head of black hair.

"Alice's exhibit is in the back of the gallery," Garcia said. "Jack is there with Jessica." She started making her way through the crowd. The team followed her obediently.

Alice was a brilliant sketch artist. She works chosen for her part of the exhibit were large poster size sketches of her friends. In one, the Kayashima twins sat back to back on a cloud. The background had small photo like scenes of the two growing up.

A second poster had Rori sitting in a large plush chair cross legged. Her head was bent down and her bangs shielded her face as she read a large book. The background revealed four fairy themed tarot cards with their names printed in a fancy script: Death, Justice, Judgment, and the Wheel of Fortune. Behind the chair was a fifth card with its back facing the crowd.

"What's the fifth card?" JJ asked.

"My birthday card," Rori's voice came from behind the group.

Everyone turned to face her. She had curled the ends of her hair so that it fell lightly on her shoulders. She wore a strapless forest green dress with black embroidered leaves. She stood in a pair of black high heeled shoes with black bows. A new addition was a pair of green plastic rimmed glasses resting on her nose.

"You wear glasses?" Morgan asked.

Rori waved. "Only when my contacts dry up."

Rossi smiled. He liked seeing Rori in glasses. Mostly she left the on the bedside table in her room. "You look great," he said.

"Do you like the drawings?" Rori asked pointing to the one with the twins.

Reid looked at the sketches. "Why do you still keep your card hidden?" he asked.

Alice walked up in a purple knee length dress and black high heeled pumps. "It's a secret until her birthday comes. A friends rule, not hers," she explained. "Glad everyone could make it."

Kaoru walked up. He was in black slacks, a white button ups, and black suspenders. "Rori we need to get ready."

Hotch looked at Rori momentarily breaking from his search for his son. "Ready for what?" Hotch asked.

"Daddy!" Jack shouted running up to Hotch. Hotch crouched down and lifted his son up.

"Hey buddy. Do you like all this art?" Hotch asked, his smile growing.

Jack nodded enthusiastically and wrapped his arm around his father's neck. "Are you going to listen to Rori's music?" Jack asked.

"Music?" Seaver asked.

Kaoru led Rori away from the group and towards the side of the room where a piano and small orchestra was set up. Rori looked over her shoulder and waved. "You'll see. Enjoy the exhibit."

Garcia and Alice waved back and focused on the group setting up the music stands and instruments.

An older greying woman in a formal black sequined dress tapped on a microphone to get everyone's attention.

"Excuse me," she said. "Welcome to the Youth Art Exhibit. As you can see, we have very talented young adults in several mediums of the visual arts.

"We have two college students here who have made art with music. Together these two have composed the music you're about to hear. It's the same music that Julliard will play in Central Park come the spring time," she explained. "So I'd like to present Kaoru Kayashima and Rori Morre-Rossi."

The room clapped as Kaoru and Rori walked up to the woman. The presenter handed Rori the mic.

"Umm…" Rori stated. "Thank you. I don't remember who told me this, but they said that everyone has a song that describes them perfectly. However, Kaoru and I had trouble find the songs that best represented the most important people in our lives. So we made their music," she smiled and held the microphone out to Kaoru.

Kaoru reached behind his head and messed with his low ponytail. "What she said," he grinned. "The first song we're going to perform is called _Christine. _It's for Rori's mom who died two years ago."

The room clapped as Rori moved to a baby grand and sat down while Kaoru stood in front of the orchestra.

"Rori got some music published?" Rossi asked.

Kenta walked up in the same outfit as his brother, his short hair slicked back. He slipped his hands into his pockets. "She has another song called _Daddy David_."

David smiled as he watched his daughter begin to gracefully move her fingers over the keys. A light, airy, tune flowing from the grand as she closed her eyes. Kaoru conducted the orchestra and a small feud like tine emerged before transitioning into a soft harmony.

Rori smiled as she continued to play. _Thank you dad. You don't know how much it means to me that you're here._

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Chapter Five out and I hope you all enjoyed it. I only have a couple chapters to go until we get to a main case. A small problem will be in the next chapter and as always, Rossi will be learning more about his daughter. A little bit about the past. I'm really looking forward to starting it tomorrow.

Anyway, leave me a review letting me know what you think. You know I like to hear from you. Don't be shy.

Ja ne.

Ren


	6. Chapter 6

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: There are only two reviewers for the last chapter. Thank you **__**dyallon**__** and **__**P95000**__** for your kind reviews. I do so love hearing from you guys.**_

_**Happy reading.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Six:

Dave sat in his office packing up. He was ready to go home and make dinner for Rori and him. She had to go to the library to get some research done. She said that she would get home shortly after he did.

Garcia came to his door and bounced slightly in excitement. "Guess who got their article published in the Georgetown newspaper."

Dave looked at the woman in surprise. "Her teacher liked it?" he asked.

Garcia held out the printed article to him as he moved from behind his desk. He took the pieces of paper and looked out into the bullpen to find Morgan, Seaver, and Prentiss all reading printed versions of the article. Reid slipped his copy into his bag as he got ready to leave.

Dave looked at the title and smiled. Rori's words surrounded a picture of Rori and Reid playing a game of chess while the other members of the team looked on. Dave started to read the piece and found his smile growing.

**Meet the BAU Family**

_**Rori Morre-Rossi**_

_Two and a half years ago I was a true blue California girl. My days were spent in the local Bay Area haunts, while I hung out with friends and studied for finals. On the weekends my mother and I would site on the beaches of Half Moon Bay, San Francisco, and on occasion, the sandy shores of Monterey. I never once imagined that I would be living and attending college across the country._

_I grew up never knowing about my father, but I finally got the chance to meet him back in July._

_David Rossi is a profiler for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). Actually, he's one of the profilers who helped start the BAU. He's a skilled profiler, friend, leader, lawman, confidant, and a published author. But, most importantly, he's my dad._

_The day I met him, I was a bundle of nerves. My aunt had been tasked with the duty of notifying Agent Rossi of his long lost daughter, and I was being the difficult teenager I am. I refused to step foot into the FBI academy for fear that I wasn't wanted or needed in his life. I sat on a bench outside and fooled around with a six piece star puzzle, while my aunt was inside breaking the news to him._

_Enter Dr. Spencer Reid, the youngest agent of the BAU team my father works with. While on his way into the academy, he happened to see me and was motivated to speak with me out of sheer curiosity. I didn't mind, I was bored and had left my travel chess set at a friend's house (Wow, that doesn't sound geeky at all…). Dr. Reid invited me into the BAU to use his, and I ended up accepting the offer. After all, summer days in Virginia tend to be in the higher summer temperatures._

_As I was playing against myself, I could hear my aunt Kate arguing with my dad. Shortly after, thy both left the confines of the office. Shock and disbelief were the first emotion the crossed my dad's face. I think shock was the prevailing emotion however._

_I'm stubborn when confronted, but at that moment I wanted to disappear. I was extremely intimidated by my father and my aunt wasn't much help. I ended up running away to a bench to read a book._

_I didn't know it at the time, but my dad had gone to look for me. Dr. Reid found me once again and we entered the BAU once more to place chess. After beating him in a game (ha-ha Dr. Reid. You lose!), my father had returned and decided that the two of us needed to sit down and have a little 'chat'. I know scary, right?_

_We scheduled a time to get a DNA test done. I knew what it would say, and deep down, so did my dad. But a lawyer would insist on proof of paternity (*yawn* Sorry, legal formalities tend to be a bore)._

_Since I've moved in with my dad, I've come to see his team members as family (even if I do still call them by their last names)._

_Penelope Garcia is the team techie as well as their personal cheering squad (sometimes I join in). I've called her office the inner sanctum of geekdom. Just so you know she happily accepts this title. She's fun quirky, and pretty much acts like the cool big sister I never had._

_Derek Morgan is one of the coolest guys I've ever met. Always ready to take the lead when the need arises. He recently started teaching me some pretty interesting self-defense moves (so prowlers beware!), and I've learned what it means to be a cop in his family._

_Spencer Reid is easily the only person I know who has a ton of chess theory in his head. Which, as anyone could imagine, makes him very difficult to beat, but on the rare occasion and a good day, I can win one game._

_I'm fluent in five languages, but I don't get to practice these skills all too often. That's where Emily Prentiss comes in. Having grown up all over Europe and the Middle East, she's very useful for expanding my foreign speaking skill. We'll talk about anything from the weather to the last date I went on._

_To be honest, I don't know much about Ashley Seaver. She's nice and smart, but she's still trying to find her place in the team, and I think that in time, she will. After all, you can't walk into a place and automatically have it work for you._

_Aaron Hotchner is super dad and a pretty great one too. I don't often see fathers like him. He comes to work every day trying to make this country safer for his son. He's the closest thing to the superhero I know._

Rossi stopped reading the article when his phone started to chirp. He looked at the display before holding the phone up to his ear. "Rori, I'm leaving the academy," he said.

"Can you pick me up?" Rori's voice came through the line. It was soft and low and Rossi had to wonder for a moment where she was.

"What happened to your Mustang?" Rossi asked. She had driven to school this morning in her own car.

"My _Mustang_ has been misplaced by secret service suits in the name of national security, because apparently a silver mustang might be the car of a terrorist!" she grinded out.

Rossi sighed. That meant that the president was somewhere near Rori's current location. A common procedure to keep the president and his family safe. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the Library of Congress, I was doing some research on foreign relations for my poly sci course," Rori answered. "It's cold," she complained.

Rossi shook his head. Putting Rori in the Library of Congress was like putting a bull in a china shop. She went from shelf to shelf pulling books out and then leaving them all at the table she was working on later in the night. She would forget to put the books back and would leave.

"All right, go back inside. I'll pick you up on the way home. Tomorrow we'll look for your car," Rossi explained.

There was a long pause on the line. "Okay," Rori sighed. "This sucks."

"It's something that happens. The tow truck companies sometimes forget to write the location down of the vehicles."

"I'm still not happy about this."

Rossi ran a hand through his hair. "I know."

An hour later and Rori was angrily tossing her things in the back before sliding into the passenger seat. Rossi shook his head. "Rori, these things happen," he said.

"Yeah, well it sucks," Rori stated as she crossed her arms and panted her feet on the dashboard.

She started to quietly fume and Rossi felt himself start to grin. They would find her car a couple of blocks from the Library and she would have her precious car once more.

Rori looked out the window and sighed. She had bought her mustang with her own money. It was the car of her dreams and she had worked hard to earn enough money to buy it.

"How was school?" Dave asked.

"Boring," she moaned.

"I read your article," he told her. He smiled briefly and looked at her.

Rori was still looking out the window, but a small smile had softened her face. "What did you think?"

"It was good," Rossi said. "Your little pieces of commentary made for a light read. Have you considered joining the newspaper?"

"Why?"

"You're good at catching the reader's attention, you might as well use it to inform the people," he explained.

"What would I inform the people on?" Rori asked.

"Local events, reviews, laws being passed," Dave listed.

"Crime reporting," Rori smirked. She looked at him. "I could write about what you and your teams cases."

"No," Rossi stated.

"Why not?" Rori asked. "I'm not talking about following you around. I mean writing about the process by which you profile each case and writing about the victims. Everyone's always placing their focus on the killers, when do the victims get any attention. It doesn't seem right; I mean the victims weren't doing anything wrong. Why should a serial killer get all of the attention?"

Rossi looked at her and his eyes widened when he realized she was serious. "You actually want to do that. How long can you do that Rori?"

"You're my dad and you've been looking at cases for most of your life."

"Are you calling me old?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"No, I'm simply saying that you're in your fifties and your still doing this job. Why can't I let people know about the lives lost to America's most disturbed?" Rori asked.

Rossi sighed. "I have to talk to Strauss and Aaron," he said. "If they give the okay, you can only write about the victims if their remaining family member's give permission and you will not list any details of the crimes that were not released to the public. If the editor of your paper gives you permission to do this, you play by the FBI's rules."

Rori smiled. "I'll talk to the editor on Monday," she said. "And just so you know, you're not old. You're middle aged."

Dave laughed as he pulled onto the freeway. "You're a good kid Rori."

"I know."

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Aghhhhh, I'm so sorry for the late update. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Within the next couple weeks we'll be starting the main conflict. It's also a month away from Rori's birthday, so we're leading up to that.

So now it's the readers turn. Drop me a review telling me what you think about this chapter. You all know how much I enjoy hearing from you guys. Happy reviewing folks.

Ren


	7. Chapter 7

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: So this chapter's shout outs go to four very kind reviewers. Thank you **__**dyallon**__**, **__**booksandmusic97**__**, **__**p95000**__**, and **__**hxchick**__**. I really enjoy seeing all of your reviews. So my hat is off to you folks. **_

_**Happy reading.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Seven:

Rori sat in her room and looked around. With her dad off fighting crime in the middle of nowhere, and Kenta's family was in town. Once boredom had set in, she had decided to change things up in her room. What a better way to accomplish this than by rearranging the furniture. Three hours later and she found her satisfied with the new living arrangement. The desk and bookshelves had been moved to the wall the opened up into the hall and her bed was in between her two windows.

She sighed once she realized that she had to bring all of her books, trinkets, stuff animals, and computers in from the hallway. She entered the hall and smiled down at Mudgie who stood looking at her as he wagged his tail back and forth.

"I don't suppose you want to help me put the stuff back in my room?" she smirked.

Mudgie placed a paw on a pile of books as if so say, _you've made your bed, now it's time to lay in it._

"Thought so," Rori muttered. She walked over to her large touch screen desktop computer and picked it up slowly.

A half hour later she fell onto her bed tiredly. "Now the room feels too empty," she complained. She looked at the bare walls and sat up. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Penelope. "Pen, I need your help."

"Hey chica, great timing. Your dad and the team are on their way to grab the bad guy. So what's up?" Garcia stated. She popped the 'p' and Rori laughed to herself.

"I rearranged my bedroom and I'm thinking that it needs a reading corner and some wall photos. Can you go to the store with me tomorrow to pick out the furniture?"

"What does dear old dad think?" Garcia asked.

"Doesn't know, and won't care," Rori answered looking at the barren room. She walked out into the hall and headed for the stairs. "We have an understanding. My room is my domain and I can do with it as I see fit. Within reason of course."

"I'll pick you up at ten," Garcia chirped. Rori could picture the wide Cheshire cat grin on the techie's face. "Who's paying?"

"Why daddy of course," Rori said. She sighed. "Nope, I am. I have some money saved up for such excursions."

"No recording this weekend then?"

Rori blew out a long breath causing her long bangs to fly up. "Nope, the season's ended for right now, and the authors are trying to find a way to end the series just right," she answered.

Rori spent her weekends doing English and Japanese voiced for a popular anime series. She had been doing it for a couple years and they were now deciding to wrap it up.

_Dark Truths_ was an animated mystery/thriller and Rori's specific character frequently ended up being the damsel in distress despite the characters intelligence. This was the case for all major plot arches and storylines.

"What are you going to do when it does end?" Garcia asked.

"Audition for another series. Actually I have an audition in New York for an English dub. It's still a couple weeks out though."

"You don't plan on doing it forever do you?"

Rori shook her head. "No, only to pay for college," Rori answered as she sat on the couch and thought about changes to the family room.

"Rori, you have several scholarship funds paying for college," Garcia said.

"Scholarships only cover so much. My first four years are paid for, but I have to worry about getting my masters and then a Ph.D.," Rori explained. "That's a minimum of four more years."

"A Ph.D. in Psychology?" Garcia asked.

"I've changed my major to English, minor in psych."

"Going to become a bestselling novelist like your father huh?" Garcia teased gently knowing Rori was picky about her writing.

Rori sighed. "Maybe. But I'm going to stick to fiction. True crime and non-fiction are booooring," she stated dragging the last word out for emphasis.

Garcia laughed and Rori smiled. "All right chica. I'll let you go. Your dad's scheduled to be back in D.C. by six."

"Cool cool," Rori stated standing up. "See you tomorrow Pen."

0o0o0o0

Dave entered his house and felt off. Something wasn't right. He looked around and pulled his side arm out. He entered the family room and his eyes almost flew out of their sockets.

"Rori!" he shouted.

Rori poked her head out of the dining room. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

"Hey dad," she smiled. She looked at his gun and shook her head.

"Why is the couch on the other side of the family room? It should be facing away from the window not the other way around," he ground out.

Rori came into the living room and rolled her eyes. "I don't know about you, but I happen to like looking out the window. Especially during the transition from winter to spring. So, I moved the couch."

Dave stared at her, debating whether or not to take her to a psychologist. "Everything has a place Rori. We went over this before you moved in."

"Variety is the spice of life," Rori explained holding her hands up in a 'tough shit' gesture. "I don't want to move the couch back; it opens up the room more."

Dave took a deep breath. "Is there anything else you rearranged?"

Rori looked up at the celling as if she could see her new set up through the plaster and concrete. "My bedroom and the living room. I moved the piano closer to the window," she answered as she took a seat on the couch.

"Who help you?" Rossi asked. _She didn't do all of this by herself did she?_

"The dogs provided moral support," Rori answered.

"You did all of this by yourself?" he asked not believing it for a second.

"Me, myself, and I."

"We're moving the couch back," Dave said. "Get up."

"Dad!" Rori complained.

"Rori," he warned. The family room would stay the same. The living room and her bedroom were all right, but he would be damned if the couch wasn't where it was supposed to be.

"Is this all you did today?"

"I got bored so sue me," Rori stated standing up. She looked at him and smiled.

The two of them stood opposite each other and pulled the couch away from the wall. Five minutes later it was back in its original spot and Dave and Rori collapsed onto the cushions tiredly.

"Somehow it was more work with you helping me," Rori panted.

"So, what did you do to your room?" Dave asked. He wondered if his mother would scream if she could see it.

"Uh… I created more room," Rori answered. "Pen and I are going to the store tomorrow to get furniture for a reading corner."

"Why not use your bed or your desk?" Dave asked. Did a seventeen year old really need a 'reading corner'?

"Please, that's no fun," Rori stated sitting up.

"I'm exhausted. How does Chinese sound for tonight?" Dave said looking at his daughter's now pensive face.

She nodded and rolled on her side. "You know I love living with you right?" she asked. Her face had softened and her eyes held a slight sadness.

"Yes, and I love having you in the house." Dave said.

"It seems off," Rori said. "I have yet to say I love you. You're my dad, I should be able too. Shouldn't I?"

"Love is a complicated emotion Rori," Dave said. "Now a days it's thrown about causally among people your age. You're different. You won't use a word like 'love' until you're certain that its meaning is understood."

"Did you love my mom?" she asked quietly looking at the couch cushion.

Dave looked the ceiling and blew out a sigh. "Yes, I loved your mom. I've loved a lot of people."

"Then can you really call is love?" Rori asked. "Is love an emotion reserved for only one person, or can you love many people throughout a life time."

"I love you, and I love my parents," Dave told her looking at the teen as she picked at her nails. She seemed genuinely confused by the topic of love. "There are different types of love Rori. Love for family. Love for a child. Love for someone you want of spend the rest of your life with."

Rori slid her gaze to meet her father's and gaze a weak smile. "Why does it have to be so complicated?"

"If it was easy, one could love the whole world," he answered. "But we don't."

"I love you dad," Rori said.

"Let's get some food into you. You always start philosophical conversations when you're hungry."

Rori laughed and her father smiled. The two stood and left the family room. Dave wrapped an arm around Rori's shoulders and pulled her close. He kissed her on the top of her head as she gave him a sideways hug.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Ahhh wasn't that sweet. I really liked writing this chapter. It was cute and fun. The next chapter will be introducing a conflict. Wooohoooo. It's going to be really fun to write, and of course it's going to involve Rori. What will happen?

Send me a review letting me know what you think. I love hearing from you guys.

Ren


	8. Chapter 8

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: Four people reviewed the last chapter and they all loved the furniture rearranging. Thank you so much for your reviews **__**Dyallon, bookandmusic97, p95000, and hxchick.**__** I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Eight:

Dave woke up at five the morning of the twenty-eighth. He sluggishly moved out of bed to work on breakfast. It was the first birthday he would be spending with his daughter. According to Garcia, Rori would have Belgium waffles for her special day.

He got dressed in a pair of jeans and light blue button up. He rolled up his sleeves as he headed down the stairs. He smiled down at Mudgie as the dog followed him into the kitchen. "Ready to make Rori a birthday breakfast like no other?" he asked.

Since he found out about Rori, his behavior had changed. He was more easy going at home and found himself constantly placing himself in the shoes of many of the parents whose children had gone missing.

A half hour later, Rori came downstairs in a pair of black jeans and a tan knee length knit sweater over a white V-neck t-shirt. She smiled at her dad and slid into the breakfast nook.

"You're making me waffles?" she asked.

"You have them every year," Dave told her as he looked over his shoulder.

"I didn't want to trouble you. I would have made them myself," she grinned resting her chin on a closed fist.

"It's a big day for you," Dave said. "You mentioned an article that you're writing. About an African humanitarian, you're interviewing him today right?"

Rori nodded. "He's coming to the University to speak in an African culture course. I'll be publishing the interview in the school paper."

"That's great," Dave said. He dropped a large waffle onto a plate and walked over to the table. "What's this guy's name?" he asked as he sat down across from her.

"Keano Kumalo," Rori answered. "It should be an interesting conversation. There are some people in Africa who would happily see this man dead. He speaks out against violence and genocide. His humanitarian efforts help people in these war torn countries get food, shelter, and protection."

"You'll have to wait to get your birthday present from me later tonight. I'm sure I'll be collecting gifts from the team members. What do you want for dinner?"

"Nothing big," Rori stated. "You know me. I'm good with steak and mashed potatoes."

Dave shook his head amazed at how little it took to please his daughter. "When do you leave for school?"

Rori let out a long breath. "Well my class is at ten, and my interview is at twelve. I'm meeting Kenta at nine. He wants to give me my gift."

"Do you want me to pick up anything for you?" Dave smirked. "Lotto tickets, voter registration, cigarettes?"

"Can I get a tattoo?" Rori asked, her eyes lighting up as she looked at her dad.

Dave laughed. "What would you get a tattoo of?"

"A rose on the inside of my left wrist," Rori answered without hesitation.

Dave studied her face and realized that she was serious about getting a tattoo. "Can I ask why?"

"Mom liked roses, I like roses. They're kind of a big deal for my mom's family," she explained. "Mom actually had a tattoo of a rose on the inside of her wrist too."

"Okay, but can I ask that you make the tattoo inconspicuous. Light in and small," Dave said. "If you can hide it, you're less likely to be passed over for a job."

Rori nodded. She didn't want to push the issue of getting a tattoo. "Okay."

Rori started eating her waffle happily. She tried to guess what her dad had gotten for her birthday. She stood up once she finished and kissed her father on the cheek.

"I love you," she said before skipping out of the kitchen. Dave chuckled to himself and shook his head.

Mudgie walked up and rested his head in Dave's lap. Rossi scratched him on the head. "She's always running off to do something else. Huh boy?"

0o0o0o0

Rossi sat in his office working on yet another report when Hotch came in.

"Hey, so Rori turns eighteen today," he smiled looking at the senior agent. He sat down in one of the office chairs. He pulled out a small wrapped box from his pocked and held them out. "Jack picked these out for her. He said that Rori would really like them."

Rossi took the box and looked it over. "What is it?"

"Earrings. Sun, moon, and clouds," Hotch smiled. "Are you leaving early?"

"No, Rori's interviewing a foreign humanitarian today. She said it will take a couple hours so she'll be staying on campus to study a little bit. I'm going to make her steak tonight."

Hotch's smile grew. The entire team had seen the fatherly side of David Rossi grow everyday his daughter spent with him. Rori had brought a bit of light to the senior profilers life.

"I'll let you get back to work," Hotch stated standing up. He set the small gift on

Not five minutes after Hotch's visit and Garcia was bouncing in. She held a medium sized box. "How were the waffles?" she asked.

"She loved them," Dave said. He gestured to the gift. "What did you get for her?"

"I got her a couple of those knit sweaters she likes so much. Purple and green."

Dave rolled his eyes, knit dresses, sweaters, hats, scarves, you name it, she had it. It was fine by him. Two months ago she was glue to plaid patterns. "I'm sure she'll love them. She's always looking for more clothes."

"Believe you me, clothes are the way to your daughters heart," Penelope giggled. "That or a new deck of tarot cards. She's started to collect the art work."

Rossi sighed. He still had yet to find out Rori's birthday card. Then again, he hadn't put much effort into finding out what a birthday card was.

"Do you know what Rori's birthday car is?" he asked the resident techie.

"No, it has some math involved. You factor in the numbers involved with the birth date and then apply it to one of the major arcana cards. I looked it up, but Rori told me that she would give me a clue later today."

Dave shook his head. "Thank you Garcia. I'm sure Rori will love the sweaters."

"I live to please," Garcia sang as she pranced out.

Rossi looked at the tie and pulled his cell phone out. He dialed Rori's number to check in on her. This was a ritual they went through every day. Rori would call after the last class of the day or he would call her at lunch. It built trust and kept Rossi aware of Rori's activities.

"Hey dad, I'm about to walk into my interview with Mr. Kumalo," Rori stated quickly. "How's your day so far?"

"Everyone is coming into my office to drop off gifts for you," Rossi said. "I'm just checking in."

"Glad to hear I'm loved," Rori laughed. Rossi pictured her walking quickly through the Georgetown campus on her way to meet with someone she admired. "Kenta bought me an Asian themed tarot deck. The artwork is fabulous."

"That's nice."

"I got to let you go dad," Rori said. "I'll see you later tonight. Love ya."

Rossi chuckled and relaxed in his seat. "I love you too."

0o0o0o0

Rori hung up with her dad and slipped her phone into her pocket. She dug around in her simple shoulder bag and pulled out a tape recorder and a small notebook and pen.

She entered a small office and was greeted by a tall black man in a three piece suit. "Mr. Kumalo. I can't tell you how much of an honor it is to meet you," Rori smiled holing out her hand.

"Miss. Rossi correct?" the man asked. Although he was an educated man, his voice still held a bit of central African accent. "I've spent some time reading your past articles. You have quite a talent for writing," he told her as he took her small hand in both of his.

Rori blushed. "Thank you, although I could never hope to be as influential as you. You're a true humanitarian after everything you've done to help war torn countries."

Kumalo let out a deep chuckle. "Maybe with time, you will be able to make some changes with your writing. Already you help families to be at peace after they've lost someone to such heinous crimes as the ones you write about."

Rori shifted slightly. She liked helping families, but mostly she did because there was a need to tell someone else's story. "Shall we get started?" Rori asked as she gestured to two chairs.

"Of course," Kumalo said.

The two sat down and Rori uncapped her pen. "So, we'll start easy. What made you start the many projects that are operating throughout Africa today?"

Kumalo's face gained a sad expression. "My mother was murdered by a political army. I was taken in by my uncle who educated me and raised me. He-"

He was cut off as the door slammed open. Rori jumped up and turned to see three men in all black. They all wore masks, and held large automatic weapons.

"Don't move," one of the men ordered through his mask.

A fourth man casually walked in and stood behind the gun men. His lips curled up in a smile and Rori narrowed her eyes. "Bring them both," he said. "A foreign humanitarian and an FBI agent's daughter. This will catch the media's attention." The fourth man's voice held no distinguishable accent and Rori unconsciously backed up.

She started at them. "Who are you?" she asked as she gripped her shoulder bad tightly. "How do you know who my dad is?"

"We've known about the interview with Kumalo for a couple months now," the fourth man said.

"That's impossible," Rori stated feeling weak and afraid. "I've only been with the paper since mid-January. My English teacher only hinted at the possibility of conducting the interview."

"Shut up and do as you're told. You'll be back home with dear old dad soon." The masked man told her. "Empty your bag Miss. Rossi. Kumalo, empty your pockets. Place any electronic devices on the ground."

Rori pulled her phone out and set it on the ground while watching the gunmen. She pulled out her new gifts and showed them to the men. "That's all there is. A couple of tarot card decks and a cell phone. I left my computer and iPod in my car," she told them. "Can I please put my stuff back in my bag?"

"Grab them and let's get out of here," the fourth man ordered. "You can let the girl bring her bag. This could take some time."

Rori tried to move away from the men but one reached out and grabbed her hair and yanked. She yelped and crouched on the ground. Kumalo was pushed out of the room by one man and Rori tried to fight but was easily lifted off the ground and dragged out.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Well that was fun. Start of the main conflict for this story. Wouldn't it suck if you were abducted on your eighteenth birthday? This should be a lot of fun to write. I loved writing this chapter, if only because I knew what was going to happen. I've been planning this situation since December.

So school's really busy right now, so I'm going to be slow to update all four of the stories I'm working on right now. I'm going to work on the next chapter throughout the week so that I can post it for you guys next Friday.

Drop me a review and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you as you all know. It's my only communication with the readers, so it's great to hear from you guys.

Ren


	9. Chapter 9

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: So this chapter is especially long for all of you who review last chapter. Thank you **__**dyallon**__**, **__**p95000**__**, and my dear friend **__**Natsumi Wakabe**__**. Your reviews mean a lot to me. All the support this story has gotten makes me jump with joy. **_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Nine:

Rori and Kumalo were shoved into a black panel van that had been hidden in a secluded back alley of the university. The Ring leader Rori's bag and pulled out one of her new tarot decks.

"If I had to send your father a card from this deck, which one would it be?" he asked Rori, who had place herself in the corner of the van to prevent sneak attacks.

"You can't send him only one card," Rori said. "One card could mean anything. **If** you want to let him know that you have me, send him Judgment, Justice, Death, Wheel of Fortune, and Chariot."

"Why?"

Rori shook her head. It bothered her that she had to share the five most important cards to her core being with a guy like this. She wasn't a believer in tarot, but they we still special. Each one had been relevant so far. Why should she doubt their meanings now when she was in trouble. "He knows that they were the main cards that came up for me in a tarot reading I had done a while back for fun. All five of them are displayed in one of my binders at home."

"Please, just let the girl go," Kumalo said drawing the focus away from Rori.

The ring leader smirked through his mask. "I can't do that. She's all a part of my plan. When she publishes an article, people read it."

"Only because of the subject matter. It has nothing to do with me as a writer. If that were the case I'd be tell epic hero tales that would rock your world," she stated adamantly. "I don't have a following of any sort. The articles are just something I do for the victims."

The leader only smirked and grabbed her wrists to tie them with flex cuffs. "It's a real shame; you don't know how popular your articles are."

"All right!" Rori yelled as the van started to move. "Who the hell are you?"

The leader turned to restrain Kumalo. "You only need search that fantastic memory of yours, and you'll know."

Rori kicked him in the back of the knees. "I want to know now!"

Her captor growled and backhanded her. "Stop talking! I don't want to kill you, but I will."

Rori smirked and licked her lips. "I thought you needed me," she said raising an eyebrow. This guy really brought out the worst in her. The part that was afraid to speak up.

The masked man sat down and pulled a glock out of the small of his back. "Stop talking. I only need someone who can write. I would do it myself, but no one listens. When I write an article it gets kicked out and replaced with one of yours."

"You think that by kidnapping someone, it will help!" Rori snapped. "You're going to jail, and my father is going to be the one who puts you there."

"Shut up!"

Rori curled her legs up and continued to glare at him. She kept her mouth shut because she had already pushed him as far as she was comfortable. _Why me?_ She thought, _why did it have to be me?_

0o0o0o0

Rossi was getting ready to leave when Anderson came in with a manila envelope. "Agent Rossi, a courier service just dropped this off," he stated.

Rossi took it and dismissed the younger agent. He opened the envelope and found a typed up letter, DVD, and five tarot cards. He frowned and pulled the letter out.

_**Agent Rossi,**_

_**You have just received five tarot cards and a video of your daughter with her new humanitarian friend. The DVD explains everything. Don't do anything stupid.**_

Rossi moved back to his desk and pulled out the card while simultaneously calling Rori. There was no answer. Death, Justice, Judgment, Wheel of Fortune, and Chariot were written out on the hand drawn cards. The words blurred slightly as his rage grew.

Hotch came to the door to say good night, but stopped when he saw Rossi's dazed look. "Dave what's wrong."

"Rori's been kidnapped again," Dave said looking up.

Hotch came into the office. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Dave handed over the contents of the envelope to Hotch and sank into his chair. How had this happened? She had talked with him before lunch.

Hotch left the office to call the team into the conference room. Dave stood up and walked to the typical meeting place, and watched Hotch put the DVD in to play.

"What's going on?" Morgan asked. "It was time to go home and relax with Clooney." Last minute cases were the one thing Morgan disliked the most.

Reid and Seaver sat down as Prentiss and Garcia came in. "Rori's been abducted again," Hotch said.

"What?" Garcia practically shouted as she entered the conference room. "How?"

Hotch played the DVD and it showed Rori and Kumalo standing on either side of a masked man. Both had their hands bound in front of them. Rori had a dark bruise on her cheek from where she had been slapped. Rossi clenched his fist, someone had hurt his daughter and they were going to pay.

"We decided to send this to the BAU because we know that you would take the case no matter what. After all one of your own is in trouble," the masked man said as her lifted Rori's chin up. "We have Keano Kumalo and Rori Rossi because the world will know our power. As long as both do as we say, they will stay alive.

"You can try to find us, but probably won't succeed. Now Miss. Rossi, do you have anything you want to say to dear old dad?"

"Yeah," Rori stated. She scratched her nose and the team noticed a drawing on her hand. "I hope you get cancer. That or you're stung by a thousand scorpions."

The man slapped her and Garcia gasped as Rori fell to the ground. "Oh yes, beat the person who's going to write your bosses story. Real smart asshole," she spat.

The man looked back at the camera. "As you can see, Miss Rossi isn't being the most cooperative. Mr. Kumalo, tell your children hat you'll be okay."

Kumalo forced a smile onto his lips. "Jhandi, Kari, I'll be back home before you know it," he stated through gulps of air. "We'll go play by the stream."

The video ended and the team looked at Rossi. His jaw was tight and his fists were clenched until his knuckles had turned white. He had watched his daughter get slapped and rage coursed through his body.

"We'll find her Dave," Hotch said. "Rori said she's writing their bosses story, and they grabbed this Kumalo guy for a reason."

"Kumalo and the boss must be related," Seaver stated.

"Garcia, find us everything you can on Keano Kumalo," Hotch ordered. "Morgan, Prentiss, go to the University and see if you can't find out anything about Kumalo's visit."

"This morning, Rori told me that there are people who would be happy to see Kumalo dead. I don't think they're going to keep them alive. Even if they do everything that is asked of them," Rossi explained. "Hotch; we've got to find her."

"Rori doesn't seem to believe it either. If they weren't going to kill her, she would just do what they want. She would have been a lot more compliant if that were the case," Morgan said.

0o0o0o0

Rori sat in a cages storage area of a large warehouse. She looked around for an escape and then looked at the tarot spread before her. She had to do something to keep her hands busy or she would burst. Kumalo was pacing nervously and looked at her. "Why are you so calm?"

"This isn't the first time I've been abducted," Rori said. "Third times the charm right?"

"What happened?' Kumalo asked sitting on a fish crate.

"The first time was in Scotland. The second time was a few months back. Both times were at the hands of a serial killer. A few guys with guns aren't a big deal."

She lied. Guys with big guns scared the crap out of her. She knew what a lie was better than anyone in the room did, and the ring leader lied when it said that Kumalo and she would live provided they did as they were told. _Right now, I've got to find a way to get out of this place, _she thought.

She looked at the hurried Pisces symbol that she had drawn on her hand shortly before the video had been taped. It was part of the only discreet clue she could give to her father and his team. She only hoped they would figure it out.

They were at a port or dock of some sort. Rori could smell the salt water and hear the water. There was the sound of work lifts, fog horns, and trucks, so they were probably in a port.

Rori scratched her head and stopped. She pulled a bobby pin out and looked at it quizzically. She studied the cage and stood up. Rori walked up to the door and shook at the bars, testing the strength. Top notch steel work.

0o0o0o0

Reid replayed the video without sound and paused it when Rori scratched her nose. "Can we zoom in on her hand?" he asked.

Rossi looked at Reid. "Rori's always drawing on her hand. She does it when she gets bored in class."

Reid sat back. He thought about Rori's actions and phrasing. "Do we know who the boss is?" he asked.

Garcia came in holding an iPad. "The list of people who want Kumalo dead is a mile long, but luckily there are only a few who have the skills and resources to abduct two people from a University during lunch hour traffic.

A call came in and Hotch answered. "Yeah?"

"Rori's car is in the student parking lot like last time. We ran into Kenta, and he let us in using his spare key. Her laptop and iPod are hidden in the trunks spare wheel compartment. We're heading to the office where the interview was taking place."

"These guys were fast," Reid asked. "See if you can find out how many people knew about the location of the interview."

"Head up Rossi, Kenta's on his way over to the BAU," Morgan said. "We tried to stop him, but he ran off."

Rossi sighed. The last thing he need was Rori's boyfriend jumping down his throat to find her. "I'll call Kimi, she can convince him to go home and wait for news."

0o0o0o0

Morgan and Prentiss stood in Dr. Amy Price's office. "Rori and Keano Kumalo were abducted?" she asked.

She was a small woman with a petite figure. She had long brown hair and hazel eyes. Her dimpled face creased in worry.

"Why were they doing the interview here?" Prentiss asked.

Dr. Price let out a small sigh. "My TA Matthew Barns is a member of the paper. He asked if the interview could be done here because my office is in quieter part of the school. I told him that it would be fine to do the interview here. Rori knows about my office. She comes in to discuss the class all the time."

"So Rori wasn't the one that asked your or told you about the interview."

Dr. Price shook her head. "Rori was going to ask the dean to use one of our conference rooms, but Matthew arranged everything. Come to think of it, he was the one who suggested Rori do the interview. She had the experience with the article she had been writing. He talked about with me first, but I'm only a source for journalism student to come to. I help them find stories for the paper."

"Has Rori ever come to you for help?" Prentiss asked taking a seat in one of the guest chairs.

"I read over her stuff, but she's never actually come to me for help on a story. She shows everything to her dad first. He has to give permission to submit the article before she turns it in to the editor."

"She has to do that," Morgan said. "The article has to be approved by a member of the BAU before it is published to prevent unwanted information from getting to the public."

"Matthew, your TA," Prentiss spoke. "Is he here today?'

Dr. Price shook her head. "He called and said that he was sick. He sounded awful," she answered. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out Rori's cell phone. "I thought she had dropped it. I was keeping it for her and was planning on giving it back to her tomorrow when we met for class. I even called her house phone to let her know I had it in my office."

Prentiss took the iPhone and turned it on. Nothing had been on the display. She slipped the phone into her pocket and looked at Morgan. Both were thinking the same thing. Matthew was involved.

"You don't think Matthew is involved do you?" Dr. Price asked as if reading their minds. She looked at her folded hands on the desk and frowned. "He's a good kid. A little odd, but he's smart."

"We're looking at all possibilities," Morgan answered simply.

"It's just… Matthew's articles keep getting rejected for the newspaper. He's been with the paper for five years. To him, it seems like every article Rori writes gets approved before they would even consider one of his."

"Why?"

"Matthew writes about most of the current situations throughout Africa. He won't let me read them, but I know he's a great writer. If you talk to the editor of the paper, I'm sure he'll tell you what a great guy Matthew is. He probably has copies of Matthew's works too."

"Thank you," Prentiss said as she stood up. "Have a good night."

As Morgan and Prentiss left, Morgan looked at Emily. "Since when did colleges have real newspapers?"

"They have a new teacher and a budget to support it," Prentiss answered. "Georgetown's paper only comes out once a week, but it's popular among the students, their parents, and some of the alumni. I have a subscription to the paper, so does Garcia."

"I'm going to call Garcia. See if she can find out anything on this Matthew kid."

0o0o0o0

Rori leaned forwards on the cage door bracing herself on the bars. She glared at the ring leader. "Please tell me this isn't out of jealousy," she spoke.

"Why would I be jealous?" the leader asked looking up from a table full of food. It had been set out just to taunt the captives.

"You're the only member of the paper who hasn't had an article published in over a month," Rori stated. "Right Matthew?"

The man laughed and removed his mask. "I should have known that you would figure it out. When did you know it was me?" he asked.

Matthew Barns had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. His jaw was composed of hard lines, and he had a sharp nose that was pointed up in false superiority.

"The van ride," Rori answered. "I hope you know the FBI is already on their way here."

"Oh you have that much faith in dear old daddy's intelligence," Matthew laughed. "There's no way he could figure it that fast."

Rori snorted. He obviously hadn't seen her dad when he was angry. "My dad isn't the only profiler I know, even an idiot like you should know that," she said. "Dr. Reid has already found the clue I left him, and Garcia will isolate the background noise to find out that we're at the ports. And then Hotch and Morgan will come sweeping in to save the day. You lose."

"Why kind of world do you live in? It must be fun. To be so naive," Matthew laughed. He stood up and left the huge warehouse. "You can keep dreaming Miss. Rossi, but your dad won't find you. Alive anyway." He slammed the door shut and Rori rolled her eyes.

"We'll see about that," she muttered. She pulled her bobby pin out of her pocket and started to bend it until it snapped in half. "Let's see if I can make these work." She started bending the metal in such a way to act as a pick.

Kumalo stood up from his place on the fish crate and walked over. "You can pick a lock?"

Rori nodded. "I got bored easily. Picking locks was just one of those things I did to pass time. I've never actually used it to break out of a place before. Or to break in for that matter. There were a couple of times when I got locked out of my house, but I hardly think that counts."

"Will you be able to do it?"

Rori smirked when she felt the lock tumble. "I think so," she said as she pushed the door open. She grabbed her bag and collected her things. "We should probably go now."

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile Reid had zoomed in on Rori's hand and stared at the Pisces symbol. His face lit up in excitement when all the pieces clicked. "She's near water!" he stated.

Rossi looked at him strangely. "What?"

"The symbol on Rori's hand. It's Pisces," Reid said.

"Rori is a Pisces. That isn't surprising seeing as it's her birthday," Seaver told him.

"Remember her threat? 'I hope you get cancer, that, or you're stung by a thousand scorpions'," Reid smiled. "Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio are the three zodiac characters associated with water."

Garcia came dancing in. "I isolated the background noise. You'll never guess what I heard."

Reid looked up at her. "A fog horn?" he asked.

Garcia frowned. "You know doctor, I don't go around stealing your thunder," she grunted. "I've heard a fog horn, and what I can only assume is a cargo lift."

"So Kumalo and Rori are being kept at a port," Hotch spoke.

Garcia sat down. "I did some digging into Matthew Barns. It turns out that he's the boss that Rori's going to be writing about. He lied to her. All of his articles involve movements against all of Kumalo's activity. Kumalo's movements preach peace and democracy. Barns wants a totalitarian like government."

"His articles were denied because the editor didn't believe they were appropriate, not because Rori's were better," Seaver shook her head as she began to understand the unsub.

"Barns' family owns a warehouse at the D.C ports," Garcia said with a large small as she twirled a pen around her fingers.

"You have an address?" Rossi asked.

"Do I ever," Garcia smirked. "Bring Rori home. I sent the address to Morgan and Prentiss. They'll meet you there."

Rossi stood up and checked his watch. It was already six and the sun would be setting in an hour. "Let's go."

0o0o0o0

Rori peeked around a cargo container. She turned to Kumalo. "Go hide behind those crates. They won't think to look for you there. I'm going to try and find the dock masters office. Or the port equivalent to the dock master."

Kumalo nodded and wen to hide. Rori stopped him and handed her bag over. "Keep it safe, I'll move easier without it."

Rori ran off and tried to stay hidden. As she was crossing an open path shots rang out and she ducked away as she heard the bullets ricochet off the metal cargo container. She plastered herself against the cold metal and listened carefully.

"Rori, you shouldn't have run," Matthew yelled.

"It's Miss. Rossi to you!" she shouted back before running towards the water.

She ducked and twisted through the maze of shipping containers. She stopped momentarily when she heard sirens. _Dad!_ She thought happily.

She was tackled to the ground. Matthew grinned as he sat on top of her. "I told you, you shouldn't run," he said.

"Bite me," Rori said flipping him over her. She crawled into a sprint and continued heading towards the water.

It didn't take long for Matthew to catch up to her as she ran along the edge of the ocean. Matthew grabbed her from behind and lifted her up effortlessly. Rori pushed her elbows back in a last ditch attempt to free herself and the two fell back into the cold ocean water.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: So I'll make this quick because this is a really long chapter and I do apologize. There was so much to write for it.

So it saddens me to think that someday very soon, The Chariot Card will be moved from the Works in Progress to Completed Works list. But have no fear the next Rossi/Rori adventure is just around the corner. As I said before, I have plans for Rori and Rossi. So, even though The Chariot Card isn't nearly as long as The Death Card, I do so hope you will stick around to see more interaction between Rossi and the daughter I wish he had.

Well what do you think? Do you want to see more of Rori and Rossi? Drop me a review telling me what you think of this chapter and whether or not I should continue the series. I have at least three more cards to play with here.

If any of you are interested. I have a twitter. You can find the link on my profile. I write as Ren Kayashima, talking about Shane(Me). Don't think I'm crazy; it's a phase I'm going through.

Shane


	10. Chapter 10

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: Thank you to all who review. **__**Dyallon**__**, **__**booksand music97**__**, **__**Kimd33**__**, and **__**p95000.**__** I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one. **_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Ten:

Reid and Rossi entered a second floor office of the Barns warehouse to find empty. Reid walked towards the window when he heard gun fire. He saw Rori winding her way through the cargo. His eyes widened slightly when he saw that she was being followed by someone.

"Rossi!" he stated. "Rori's being chased down by someone."

Rossi came to the window and watched as a man chased after Rori. He got on his walkie talkie. "Hotch; Rori is being chased towards the water."

"Morgan and I will try to find her," Hotch's voice cracked through the device.

0o0o0o0

Morgan and Hotch came out of the mess of cargo storage guns drawn. They found Rori running under a line of lights. She was fifty yards away when Matthew grabbed her and the two fell into the water.

"Rori!" Morgan shouted as he ran towards the water.

Rori popped out of the water and took a deep breath before being pulled under. She kicked and punched out, but none of her efforts yielded the desired result. She felt hands close around her neck. She pushed her hands out and succeeded in getting her head out of the water.

Matthew popped up a couple feet away and swam towards her. Rori treaded backwards as he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her up against the cement wall.

Rori went limp and he let go of her as she sunk into the dark water. Her sweater floated up around her head.

A bright light shown down on Matthew's face. "FBI move and I will shoot you," Morgan shouted.

Matthew laughed. "I suppose you're going to stop Rori from drowning."

Morgan looked at Hotch as he stopped next to the younger agent. "Pull Rori up!" Morgan ordered.

"That's not going to happen," Matthew said. "If Rori dies, I'll be a happy man."

Morgan dropped his gun and jumped into the frigid water. He dove under the water and swam towards Rori's tan sweater. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up to the surface. He looked around and found a small floating dock.

Hotch kept his gun trained on Matthew as Reid, Rossi, Prentiss, and Seaver came running over.

Rossi looked at Matthew for a moment before he diverted his attention to Morgan who had started to give Rori CPR.

"Rori!" he shouted out in worry. He ran towards a set of stairs and in seconds was next to Morgan. He crouched down next to his daughter's limp body.

_No this can't happen!_ His mind shouted. He started praying and hoping that any god that existed would let Rori open her eyes.

Rori started to cough and she spit out a lung full of sea water. She opened her eyes slightly and looked at the night sky. "I demand a do over. This birthday sucks," she stated as her dad pulled her up into a tight embrace. She closed her eyes and passed out in her dads arms.

Morgan looked at Rossi and realized that the senior agent had started to cry silently. "Rossi, we've got to get her out of the cold," he said. He was one to talk; he was freezing after jumping into the water.

Rossi loosened his grip on Rori only slightly. He let Morgan pick her up and carry her to the top of the stairs where an ambulance was pulling up. Prentiss and Hotch were pulling Matthew out of the water. Rossi glared at Matthew who glared right back.

"She should be dead," Matthew spat.

0o0o0o0

Rossi sat in a waiting room with Reid, Morgan, and Garcia. Doctors had to run some tests to make sure that there wasn't any serious brain damage. A doctor came out and introduced himself as Dr. Casting.

"Mr. Rossi, your daughter is okay," the man smiled. "She has a concussion and she hasn't woken up yet, but we couldn't see any serious damage. We moved her to a room. If you follow me, I can take you to see her."

The team followed him to a room where Rori was laid out in a hospital bed. The heart rate monitor gave off a steady beep.

"She looks like she's asleep," Garcia said.

Rossi let out a tired sigh and fell into the chair next to Rori's bed. He buried his head in his hands and let out another sigh.

"I'll leave you to yourselves," Dr. Casting said before walking out.

Reid looked around the room and found it dauntingly somber. The walls were a pristine white and stunk of sanitation chemicals.

0o0o0o0

_Rori sat on a stiff leather couch and looked around nervously. She was in a simple black knee length dress and black peep toe heels. She shifted uncomfortably and looked around the sophisticated office. _

"_Rori?"_

_Rori stood up in surprise. "Mom!" she smiled she ran forward and hugged the tall woman who stood in front of her. "Mom, I've missed you so much," she cried._

_Christine Moore hugged her daughter close. She was in jeans and grey t-shirt. He long black hair was in a messy bun and she was an older and much more mature version of her daughter._

"_Rori, you've gotten taller," Christine stated. "I guess living with your aunt has been good for you."_

"_I'm living with dad," Rori said refusing to let go of her mother's waist. "He's not so bad. He's a great dad actually."_

_Christine laughed. "I guess I should have told you about him," she said. "Let's sit."_

_The two women sat down and Rori wiped her eye. "Mom, I'm so sorry," she said. "If I hadn't asked to go to Scotland, you would still be alive."_

"_No Rori," Christine shook her head as she took her daughters hands. "I don't care about that. You're okay. That's all that matters."_

"_I got into trouble again," Rori said. "I fell into some really cold water."_

"_You'll be fine. You always are," Christine said. "Tell me about your time with Dave."_

"_Dad's really nice. He'll help me cook and he likes to go to the dog park with me."_

"_Have you gone hunting with him?"_

"_No, but we're going to stay the weekend at his cabin in a month," Rori smiled. It was something she was looking forwards to. Just her dad, the dogs, and the woods to keep her company. The one place where she always felt at home was surrounded by tall trees and the smell of fresh air._

0o0o0o0

Rossi looked at Rori and saw that she was crying in her sleep. "Rori?" he sat up and wiped away the tears. "Can you hear me?"

"She's dreaming," Reid told him. "It's not uncommon."

Rossi looked at Garcia. "Can you stop by my house and get some things for when Rori wakes up?" he asked. "I don't want to leave. Just in case she wakes up."

Garcia nodded. Rossi had given her a key a while back so that she could check in on Rori while he was away on cases. Sometimes, she would spend the night to keep the teenager company. It was a nice arrangement and Rossi was happy to have someone there for his daughter.

"You all should go home," Rossi told the other agents. "I'll call if she wakes up."

Morgan nodded. Already Hotch was busy interrogating Barns with Prentiss and Seaver. "I'm coming back in the morning."

Reid reached into his bag and pulled out a wrapped gift. "I was going to give this to you before you left. It's an antique copy of The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. We were talking about it a month ago. I thought she would like it."

Rossi took it and looked at the crude wrapping job. "She'll definitely love it."

Once everyone had left, Rossi looked back at Rori. "Please wake up. You have to come back to the house. Mudgie would miss you. So would Zen and Chou," he said. "The house wouldn't be the same without you. I can't lose you after I only just found out about you."

0o0o0o0

"_You and Kenta are dating?" Christine asked surprise in her daughter's progress in two years. Rori nodded enthusiastically. "Mom, he's so incredibly sweet and kind. I love going out to lunch with him and spending the weekends in New York with him. There's this small costume shop that I like to look at, he bought a mask in the shape of a butterfly from there for Christmas."_

"_Kimi and I were hoping you two would get together," Christine said patting her daughter's hand. She suddenly gained a sad look in her eyes. "Do you think your father misses me?"_

_Rori examined her shoes and thought about an appropriate response. She took a deep breath and looked at her mom. "I don't think he stopped loving you if that's what you mean," she answered. "Mama Rossi said you were the nicest of his exes."_

_Christine laughed lightly and hugged Rori. "That's because I didn't try to kill him."_

0o0o0o0

It had been thirty-six hours since Rori had been pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean. Tests had been run, and nothing appeared to be wrong. Rori's reason for staying asleep was purely psychological. Garcia had brought in her favorite blanket hoping that something familiar would help wake her up.

The tables were covered in arrangements of daisies, stargazer lilies, and carnations. Each arrangement boasted a card wishing the young woman well. A small stuffed pig sat on the table next to Rori with card in between its hooves.

This news was absolutely killing Rossi. He wanted his daughter to be home in her own bed. He wanted to see her smile and laugh. He wanted her to talk to him about her psychology classes. He wanted to see that excited gleam in her eye once more. The same gleam that showed up when she was playing a piece on the violin.

Hotch came to the hospital room door. "Dave, you haven't left this room for two days. You should go home and sleep in your own bed."

"Why hasn't she woken up?" Dave asked tiredly. "I just want her to come home with me. I talk to her every minute of every day and she still hasn't woken up."

"She went through a traumatic experience. The mind is complicated. You know this Dave," Hotch stated. "Hanging around this hospital room isn't going to change that."

"I'm not leaving," Dave growled.

Hotch sighed knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with the senior agent. "At least take a nap on the second bed. I'll sit and watch Rori. If she wakes up, I'll wake you."

Rossi grunted but reluctantly agreed. "I'm not going to fall asleep," he stated more to himself.

As soon as the profiler dropped his head onto the white pillow, he fell into a deep and restful sleep. The many hours of stress started to slip away as his muscles started to relax and his breathing slowed.

0o0o0o0

_Rori stood in a garden wearing a yellow sundress. She looked at her mom and frowned. "I can't stay here. It's not real. You're dead, and dad's probably worried about me," she spoke._

_Christine's blue eyes focused on her daughter. "Then why haven't you left?" she asked._

_Rori began to cry. "I miss you so much," she sniffed. "I wish that you were still alive, and then we could be a family."_

"_Rori, you have an amazing group of people that love and care about you. That's your family," Christine told her. "But you need to wake up if you ever want to see that family again."_

_Rori cried even harder and rubbed the heel of her hands against her eyes. "But, then you'll be gone," she whispered. _

_Christine laughed. "I'm already gone Rori. This is a dream. You know it is," she said. "You need to stop blaming yourself for everything. Face the real world and hold your head up high. You're a Moore and a Rossi, and they aren't afraid to face the truth."_

_Rori giggle and took some deep breaths to calm herself down. "What is the truth?"_

"_That the past is no longer under your control," Christine told her. _

_The garden started to wilt and disappear as Rori's dream came to an end. She looked up at her mom. "I love you mom."_

"_I love you too. Forever and always."_

0o0o0o0

Garcia sat next to Rori's bed knitting a hat when Rori turned on her side. The teen opened her eyes slightly and groaned. She started to rub her eyes.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty," Garcia greeted. "You had everyone worried for a moment. I hope you don't mind, but I brought your wolf blanket. I know how much you love it. Hotch was here before, but Jack got sick while he was staying with Jess."

Rori pushed herself up weakly. "Where's my dad?"

Garcia pointed to the other bed. "Playing Snow White."

Rori snorted. "How long have I been asleep?" she asked as she rubbed the crust from her eyes.

"Almost two and a half days," Garcia answered as she put her knitting away. "Your dad hasn't left your side. The rest of the team has taken turns at the hospital."

"I'm sorry if I worried you," Rori said hugging her knees. She laid her head on top of them and slid her gaze to look at her dad's curled up figure.

"We should let him sleep," Garcia smiled. "What were you dreaming about?"

"I was talking to my mom," Rori said.

"That had to be interesting."

Rori began to tear up and she mentally swore as she blinked away her tears. "It had seemed so real," she said. "I could feel her hugs, her hand on mine, just like before." She looked at Garcia and her eyes showed a mixture of sadness and confusion.

"Well when he wasn't pacing the room in frustration, your dad was holding your hand pleading with you to wake up," Garcia smiled. She set her knitting aside let out a pensive sigh.

Rossi grunted and sat up groggily. It took him a moment to focus on Rori, but when he did he was out of the bed and wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he said.

"I love you too dad," Rori spoke into his chest and hugged him back.

Garcia fell back in her seat. A wide smile gracing her bright red lips as she witnessed a rare sight. David Rossi was acting outside of his norm.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: AWWWW how sweet. That was really nice. I decided that Christine Moore will be gracing at least one chapter of every story in the series. She was the reason all of this started. She was pregnant with Rori.

The next couple chapters are going to slowly move towards Rori and Rossi moving back into their normal routine. It's going to be a lot of fun wrapping this story up. Work on the next one will start soon after I finish this one up. I'm really having a lot of fun writing this series, so I know that it will continue for a while.

Drop me a review letting me know what you think. I love hearing from you guys.

Side Note: I have a twitter account. The link it through my profile. So if you want short little updates all you have to do is follow me.

Ren/Shane


	11. Chapter 11

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

_**Shout Outs: The shout outs go to my usual following. Thanks to **__**dyallon**__**, **__**booksandmusic97**__**, **__**p95000**__**, and **__**hxchick**__**. I'm glad that you enjoyed this last chapter and hope that you enjoy this one as well.**_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Eleven:

Rori stood in the hospital good as new. She was in a pair of jeans, a grey t-shirt, and a black zip up hoodie. She slipped her glasses in place and smiled at her dad.

"See I'm all good. A functional human being," she said.

Dave looked at his daughter. "You almost drowned," he told her. "I won't be satisfied until you are home and the bump on your head is gone."

"Dad," Rori moaned as she felt the bruise on the back of her head. She winced and pulled her hand away. "I'm fine."

Dave walked over and hugged his daughter. "Rori, you have no idea how worried I was."

"What's the deal with Matthew Barns?" she asked.

"He's going to jail for kidnapping, as well as attempted murder," Dave explained.

"I never meant to pass him up," Rori told him. Her voice was soft and low as she looked at the ground. "I think that I should leave the paper."

"Why?" Rossi asked. "Rori, you love writing for the paper."

"I know, but I'm not journalism major," she said. "I feel like I'm abusing my access to a story,"

"Everybody does it Rori," Dave told his daughter as he bent over to pick up her duffel bag. He watched as she grabbed her folded up blanket and hugged it to her chest tightly.

The two left the room and headed towards the parking garbage.

"But Rori, you approach your articles with a certain class. You place your focus on a life that was lost, and people are truly interested in those stories," Dave explained. "Don't stop doing it if you have a passion for it."

"So you think that I should continue doing it?"

"Only if you really want to," Dave told her.

Rori sighed. "Okay," she said softly.

Ten minutes later, Rori perked up in her seat in confusion. "This isn't the way home" she said. "Dad, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise. Just relax and you'll see soon enough," Dave shook his head.

Rori looked at her father like a child who had just been told that they couldn't have their favorite candy bar. "Dad, come on, I just got out of the hospital. The least you could do is tell me where you're taking me."

Rossi slid his gaze temporarily to gaze at Rori's arched eyebrow. "Rori, you can't guilt me into revealing my plans. It just won't work."

"You sadden me," Rori pouted as she crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry," Rossi smiled. Rori scrunched up her face in mock anger.

"Is it dinner, because I have to say, I'm starving," Rori stated. She was looking out the window trying to figure out their destination.

"Yes, there is food involved," Rossi sighed. "What kind of father would I be if I let my daughter starve to death after she just got out of the hospital?"

"Cheeky doesn't suit you," Rori stated as she sunk down in her seat and looked at her phone. "I wonder why Kenta hasn't called or texted. He had to know I was leaving the hospital." She looked sad and confused by this small bit of information.

"He's plotting with Garcia probably," Dave said. He knew why Kenta wasn't calling or texting. It was all part of the plan. Rossi had been instructed to get Rori to their destination and to keep his mouth shut. Dave thought it best not to cross Penelope Garcia when she was plotting something.

Finding the right place to hold a birthday party was difficult, but Garcia had succeeded. With Kenta's help she had found a new Teppanyaki bar with a private party room for special events. The team had gathered with empty stomachs and big smiles. They were joined by the Kayashima's and Alice. Now all that was left was the arrival of the birthday girl and her father.

The showroom gave off a modern Japanese flair. Just about everything was black granite and dark woods, with bright paper lanterns for decorations. The teppanyaki bar could seat sixteen comfortably, making it perfect for their large group. Garcia had set up the presents on a small table and looked at the team.

"Now, Rossi and Rori will be here soon. This is all for Rori, because let's be honest, Monday was possibly the worst day ever."

Kenta looked at his brother and Alice. The two had come to his aid when he found out Rori had been kidnapped _again_. They had come with him to the hospital to visit with her, and they jumped at the opportunity to help with Rori's do over birthday celebration.

Rossi entered the showroom as he covered Rori's eyes with his hands.

"Dad," Rori smiled. "This is ridiculous. Why can't I see where we are?"

Rossi removed his hands and everyone shouted 'Happy Birthday'. Rori jumped slightly and smiled. She beamed up at her father.

"Why did you do this?" she asked.

"Before passing out on the docks, you demanded a do over on your birthday," Morgan said. "We're giving you what you wanted."

"I did?" Rori asked.

Rossi and Morgan nodded. They were the only ones who had heard it, but it wasn't something you could easily forget. She had almost drowned and her first words were 'I demand a do over'. "You don't remember?" he asked.

"I don't remember anything after falling in the water. Only that it was really cold. Then I woke up in the hospital," Rori answered.

"We are not going to talk about that travesty of a night. We are going to eat, laugh, and in general have a good time," Garcia said clapping her hands.

Kenta walked over and pulled Rori into a hug. "You said that it would be a simple interview," he whispered. This was the first time he got to see her outside of the hospital.

Rori hugged him close. "It seems that nothing can ever be simple now can it?" she asked.

"Either sit down or get a room," Morgan laughed, earning a glare from Rossi.

"Kenta Kayashima, should you ever act on the later suggestion, you will quickly find yourself a eunuch," Dave growled as he took on the father approach. "I don't care if Rori is a legal adult."

Kenta's face became slack as he gaped at Rori's father. Rori laughed and turned to look at her father.

"Dad, I'm pretty sure that if I were to have sex with Kenta, you'd be the last one to know about it," she said.

Rossi's eyebrows arched at this statement. "Have you had sex?" he asked.

The team watched with bemused grins as David Rossi started to sweat as he waited for his daughters answer. Jack looked up at his dad and pulled on the bottom of his polo. "What's sex?" he asked.

Hotch smiled and ruffled up his son's hair. "Nothing Jack."

"Of course not," Rori answered with an innocent smile. Dave relaxed as Garcia ushered everyone to their seats. He sat next to his daughter as she hung on to Kenta's hand.

At the end of the night, it was time to open Rori's gifts. Morgan was the first to hand over a gift bag. The teenage girl pulled the tissue paper out and pulled out a movie making software program.

"It's the new version of Final Cut for your Mac," he explained.

"Thank you!" Rori exclaimed.

Alice and Kaoru gave Rori a package of five hundred music sheets for her to compose on. Seaver gave her a new puzzle game for her Nintendo DS. Rori lit up when she opened Dr. Reid's gift.

"Oh, my favorite book!" she yelped. "I love it. It's so old. It smells like the old books in Giles shop."

Jack presented Rori with her gift shyly. Rori leaned over in her seat to give him a tight hug. "Thank you Jack. Would you like to help me open it?" she asked as she pulled the little boy into her lap.

Jack nodded and tore at one end of the box while Rori tore at the other end. Rori smiled when she saw the contents and hugged Jack tightly before putting the moon earrings in. They dangled and shone in the light.

"Thank you."

Prentiss had given Rori an Italian Puzzle Box, made of a light cherry. The top had a painted bouquet of roses. Rori kept the box in front of her as she moved to open Garcia's present.

"Pen, you are possibly one of the greatest gal pals a girl could have. You're tied with Alice," Rori grinned as she examined the sweater.

"Oh, good," Garcia chirped. "I'm so happy you like them."

0o0o0o0

Later that night, Rossi pushed open his front door and was happily greeted by all three dogs. "My puppies!" Rori shrieked. She crouched down and hugged Mudgie around the neck and nuzzled her face into his fur.

"They missed you," Dave said.

Rori looked up. "They missed you too," she told him. "Pen was the one who came over to take them out I assume. You know, while you refused to leave my side."

"I wanted to be there when you woke up," Rossi explained.

"That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't mean the dogs should be neglected," Rori frown. "I'm sorry I was out so long."

"Garcia said you dreamt of your mom," Dave spoke.

"Just my mind telling me something that my conscience wasn't letting go," Rori answered as she studied Zen's collar.

"Like what?"

Rori stood up and crossed her arms. "That mom being murdered wasn't my fault," she stated as she headed towards the family room. "I had asked to go to Scotland for the family trip."

"Rori, that was never your fault," Dave said watching as her back disappeared into the next room.

Rori nodded and fell onto the couch. "I know that now," she mumbled into the pillow. "I've just been hanging on to it since I found out that she had been murdered."

Rossi crouched down to look at her. He pushed her long bangs out of the way. "Rori, you shouldn't hang onto stuff like that. You can talk to people."

"Dad, I'm fine really," Rori protested. "I'll talk to you if I need to, but after everything that's happened in the past six months, I'm ready to move on and focus on school and family."

Dave smiled and patted her on the shoulder as he straightened up. "Do you want to go to the cabin tomorrow?"

"But we're going in a month," Rori stated as she tried to get comfortable on the couch.

"You almost died. I think a couple days in the woods would be good for the both of us."

Rori looked around the house. "You mean this isn't a cabin?" she asked sarcastically.

"Facetious little brat," Dave grunted as he hit her lightly with another couch pillow.

"I love you too," Rori laughed grabbing the pillow from him. She moved to put it under her head when Rossi took it back from her.

"You can't sleep on the couch tonight. You need to sleep in a real bed."

"Dad!"

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: So it's likely that there will be one more chapter and then I will bring Chariot Card to a close. I could have done it with this one, but I at least wanted to end it with the cabin visit. I will begin work on the next installment of the Rossi and Rori bonding adventures as soon as I finish this story. So you shouldn't have to wait long for a new tale. I've already got the case figured out. So all that's left to do is think about the fluff. That shouldn't be too hard. Fluff is almost my specialty now.

Leave me a review letting me know what you think. As always any reviews for the last chapter will receive a shout out in the first chapter of the next installment. Wow I can't believe I've created a somewhat decent series out of this.

Thanks for reading.

Shane


	12. Chapter 12

Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Alas my top secret mission to steal the rights to Criminal Minds failed. At the last minute my repel line broke and I was arrested for trespassing on ABC ground. If you would like to help me with bail money…

_**Shout Outs**_: _**So I got a couple of reviewers for the last chapter. Thank you **__**dyallon**__**, **__**P95000**__**, my dear friend **__**Natsumi Wakabe**__**, and **__**Kmd55**__**. I really enjoyed seeing all of your reviews. I hope you enjoy this fun little chapter to end the story. **_

0o0o0o0

Chapter Twelve:

Rossi looked over at his daughter as she slept peacefully in the passenger seat. She was wrapped up in her favorite blanket once more, her head rested lightly on the seat as headphones hung out of her ears.

They had woken up at five and had been on the rood for a good five hours. Rori had somehow remained in her slumbering state for four hours of it. As Dave drove through the open woods, he had kept the radio off and his eyes on the road. They were ten minutes away from the cabin, so Dave reached over to gently shake his daughters shoulder.

Rori moaned and opened her eyes. Her green orbs remained partly unfocused as she sat up in her seat. She struggled slightly to pull her arms out of the blanket and get her bearings. "Are we almost there?" she asked sleepily.

"Ten more minutes," Dave smiled.

Rori looked at the dogs in the trunk of the SUV. Mudgie was standing up, ears up, tail wagging. "Someone knows we're almost there," she mumbled slightly, still not complete awake. She buried her face in her blanket and took a deep breath. After a moment she stretched out in her seat. A small number of pops came from her spine as she let out a content sigh. "That was a nice nap," she said.

Rossi laughed slightly. "More like a deep slumber. You were out like a light."

Rori yawned and looked out the window. "I'm still so sleepy."

"You were asleep for sixty hours. It will take a little time for your body to get used to a normal sleep schedule again."

Rori nodded. She looked out the window as she watched the tall moss covered trees come and go from her sight. She smiled and continued to watch the scenery until they pulled up to Dave's 'cabin'.

"Dad, when I hear 'cabin'," Rori began. "I'm thinking a dinky little thing. Not three thousand square feet with a log and stone exterior."

"It's only twenty-seven hundred," Dave corrected.

"Oh, only twenty-seven hundred square feet," Rori stated sarcastically. She studied the 'cabin' in front of her. "Let me guess, three and a half baths. Oh and I can't forget the massive kitchen."

"Yes, the master suites also on the first floor."

"Dad, I don't get it. You have either been married without children or single. Why do you need large houses?" she asked

"I had this one built for my family," Dave told her. "My sister spends a week here with her husband and three kids."

Rori looked at her dad curiously. "Why haven't I met your siblings yet?" she asked.

"Because they wouldn't leave you alone if they ever came for a visit," Dave answered. "They loved Christine, and ostracized me for an entire year after the divorce."

"But, you're on good terms now. Right?"

Dave nodded. "Yeah, my parents rotate the holidays they spend with each child. Next year, my parents will be coming to Easter. Not Christmas."

"Does this mean I have to go to church again?"

Dave let out a hearty laugh as he hit the garage door opener. "I don't know."

"Do you ever think about going to your siblings place for the holidays?" Rori asked.

"I haven't recently. When I was retired, I did. I haven't really gone back to my parents place thought. We had a case in my hometown, but I only went out to dinner with them."

The two of them got out of the SUV and unloaded the dogs and their bags.

"We should spend Easter with your family," Rori said as she lugged her large duffel bag out of the car.

"Maybe," Dave said as he walked into a small hallway the led to the kitchen, mudroom, and bathroom.

As Rori walked in she looked at the high wood ceilings, polished wood floors, and rustic set up. She smiled when she saw her couch's twin.

"It has the same couch as the house!" she exclaimed running over to it. With a flying leap, she sailed over the back and onto the plush cushions below. She buried her face into a couch pillow and moaned in delight.

"You really like couches," Dave said eyeing his daughter suspiciously.

Rori's head popped up above the back of the couch. "You have no idea."

Dave dragged his bag into the master bedroom off of the living room. This room was very much like the one he had back home. It was composed of brown tone fabrics and dark woods.

"You can pick one of the three rooms on the second floor," he told Rori. "But personally, I would go for the bedroom with the balcony."

He smirked when he heard rushed footsteps above him a moment later. There was a _thunk_ of Rori dropping her bag and she came running into his room with a wide grin. "Dad, this place is so cool. I can see a lake from the balcony."

"It's too cold now, but come summer time, you can swim in it," he explained.

Rori hugged him tightly. "I think we should go on a hike," she spoke into his chest.

Dave hugged her back. "Well, let's finish unloading the car first. The house is run on a solar panel generator. So we don't have to worry about power once I turn it on. Just don't stay up to late."

Rori nodded. As she was about to leave, her father pulled her back and made her sit on the king sized mattress.

"Not so fast," he grinned. He pulled a wrapped gift from his bag. "I still haven't given you your birthday present."

Rori looked at him confused. "I don't see why people feel obligated to get another person gifts on their birthday."

Rossi pulled the gift back. "I can take it back."

Rori reached forward, eyes wide. "No!" she said. "I want it. I just don't get it."

Rossi smiled and dropped the package gently into her lap. Rori opened it carefully and pulled out a Canon EOS SLR digital camera.

"Oh wow," Rori whispered. She looked up at her dad. "How did you know I wanted a SLR?"

"We talked about it a while back. You like to make videos, and you can do that with this one. At least that's what the guy told me when I bought it."

Rori nodded. "Even videographers are moving to make movies on these. Thank you," she said.

"Come on," Rossi said. "Let's get the food out of the car."

0o0o0o0

Rori stepped over a branch that was covered completely in a dark green moss. She snapped a picture of the lake in front of her. "You know what?" she asked.

"You haven't said anything," Dave stated.

"Well, okay," Rori shrugged. "I was thinking about Disney's Tangled."

"Rori, I haven't seen Tangled."

"I know, but hear me out," Rori said.

Dave sighed. "Okay."

"In Tangled, Rapunzel is kidnapped by Mother Gothel. What I don't get is why Gothel didn't change Rapunzel's name and birthday."

Dave stopped walking and stared at her. _This is what she thinks about?_ He sighed. "Okay," he said prompting her to continue her thought process.

"It just seems weird," Rori said snapping another picture. "If I had just kidnapped the king and queens daughter, those would have been the first things I would do. Because chances are kidnapping a princess is punishable by death."

Dave walked up to her. "Disney magic covers all logic mishaps." he sighed, hoping that would stop the conversation from taking another interesting turn.

Rori gazed at him blankly for a moment, her mouth hung open slightly. After a minute she shrugged. "I never thought about it that way," she muttered as she looked at the moss covered tree trunks to the sides of the hiking trail. She crouched down and took a picture of a large spider web and the water droplets that clung to its sticky threads.

"I take it you like the new camera," Rossi smiled as she stood back up.

Rori nodded rapidly. She happily skipped over to the rock bed and took a picture of the tree lines reflection in the lake. "I have to say, the woods are nice when I'm not being chased by a serial killer."

Dave laughed as he leaned against a large boulder. He felt at peace as his daughter continued her photography adventure.

He thought about planning a summer trip for just the two of them. They could go to Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Venice, maybe Prague. He closed his eyes as he thought about the numerous possibilities for father/daughter bonding.

_~Fin~_

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Well that's it; I've successfully finished another work. And I can proudly say that this one was better than The Death Card. I've become a better writer in the time since I started writing this story, and there is still more progress to be made. But, I will become better with each story and each chapter.

I'm going to start work on the next Rori and Rossi adventure tomorrow while I work on doing some laundry. Thank you to everyone who has followed this story and its predecessor. I promise to make the next one even better.

Leave a review letting me know what you think. I promise to place a shout out to you in the first chapter of the next story.

Ja ne.

Shane


End file.
